COMESA is mourning the demise of Ms Hope Kivengere, a Member of the COMESA Committee of Elders, who passed away on 19 October 2021 in her home country Uganda.

Ms Kivengere was appointed to the Committee of Elders in April 2015 where she also served as the Deputy Chairperson. In the course of service to the regional bloc, she carried out several assignments including that of leading COMESA Election Observer Missions.

Among these were the 2018 Presidential Elections in Egypt, the 2019 Presidential Election in Comoros, the 2019 General Elections in Malawi and most recently, Zambia’s General Elections in August 2021.

In a message of commiseration, sent through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala, Uganda, Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe described Ms Kivengere as an active Elder who executed her role with energy and excellence.

“It is with profound sadness and a great sense of loss that we have learnt of the untimely death of Madam Hope Kivengere,” said the Secretary General. “We shall always cherish the memories of our interactions with her.”

Madam Kivengere was endowed with a wealth of knowledge in peace and security matters as well as sharp diplomatic skills having worked as the Spokesperson for the Presidency in Uganda from 1986-2001.

COMESA has deployed a 40-member election observer mission in Zambia for the August 12 General Elections. The observers drawn from 10 Member States were flagged off on Sunday, August 8, 2021, by the Secretary General, Chileshe Kapwepwe at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka.

The Mission includes observers from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe and staff from COMESA Secretariat. It is led by Ambassador Ashraf Gamal Rashed of Egypt assisted by Madam Hope Kivengere of Uganda. The two are Members of the COMESA Committee of Elders.

Prior to deployment, the observers were conducted on a two-day training by the Secretariat and key stakeholders including the Electoral Commission of Zambia, the national police, political analysts, civil society and the media. The training covered among others, the COMESA election observer principles and methodology, observer responsibilities, and on the Zambia electoral process.

In the days preceding the elections, the observers will meet various electoral stakeholders including political parties, and exchange views with other election observer missions.

The observation process will be guided primarily by the constitution and legal framework of Zambia, in consistence with the relevant international and regional instruments including the COMESA Guidelines on Election Observation.

COMESA in partnership with the African Union, Economic Social and Cultural Council, (ECOSOCC) and the Save the Children International, have launched an online information-sharing platform to facilitate civil society organisations in the region to play a bigger role in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

Livingstone, Zambia, Friday, May 21, 2021: COMESA in partnership with the African Union, Economic Social and Cultural Council, (ECOSOCC) and the Save the Children International, have launched an online information sharing platform to facilitate civil society organisations in the region to play a bigger role in conflict prevention and peace building.

The platform https://gps.comesa.int was launched in Livingstone, Zambia by the Assistant Secretary General of COMESA, Dr Kipyego Cheluget.

The development of the platform followed a study and stakeholder consultations done by COMESA on the root factors of conflicts in the sub-region. These activities revealed that conflicts in the region were not only complex but required joint approaches to address them.

Dr Cheluget said state actors need to complement their strengths and competencies with non-state actors in the region to address the conflicts sustainably and comprehensively.

“While national governments have the primary responsibility to ensure peace and security within its borders, civil society and private sector organisations also have an important role to play, particularly being close to the grassroots, where most intra-state conflicts start,” Dr Cheluget said.

The platform is therefore aimed at enabling robust networking amongst these actors to create strong partnerships for peace and security by sharing information on relevant themes to keep the wide population of CSOs informed.

Besides, it will encourage debate around key topical issues and build consensus on the positive role that CSOs and Private Sector Organisations can play and at the same time, showcasing their work to encourage replication of good practices.

Over 30 CSOs from 17 Member States have been accredited since 2012 and have been partnering with COMESA in the development and implementation of its peace and security programme.  This includes the development of the COMESA Early Warning System (COMWARN). They also serve in the COMESA elections observer missions, with some of them providing analysis of the electoral environment in their respective countries.

Speaking at the launch, ECOSOCC representative, Mr Osei Kyeretwie said his organization is keen to support strategic partnership with COMESA in building the capacity of CSOs to be more effective in their role.

Ms. Hortense Minishi, Head of Programmes at Save the Children International, said the responsibility of protecting the children and youth from situations of conflict is a multi-stakeholder undertaking that should bring everyone on board.

The launch was attended by among others, a Kenyan delegation comprising of the Commissioners of the National Cohesion and integrity Commission and Members of the Kenya Parliamentary Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities. The delegation was in Zambia for a COMESA-AU training on COMWARN and structural vulnerabilities and resilience assessment frameworks.

Livingstone, Zambia, Monday, 17 May 20121: Kenya is set to become the second country in COMESA, after Zambia to undergo structural vulnerability and resilience assessment as part of capacity building to prevent occurrence of conflicts. In preparation, a Kenyan delegation comprising members of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the Parliamentary Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunities is attending a five-day training on the COMESA/African Union Structural Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Assessment framework (SVRA).

The training opened today in Livingstone, Zambia, and is organized by COMESA in collaboration with the African Union and the Save the Children International. Its key objective is to train the two institutions, which are key in building cohesion and integration in Kenya, to develop a roadmap of the implementation of the SVRA process in the country.

COMESA has been implementing an early warning system (COMWARN) that provides forecasts on the structural drivers that could lead countries towards higher or lower levels of peace and prosperity.  The model, which is anchored on the COMESA Peace and Prosperity Index has the overall goal of supporting member states to build resilience.

Speaking at the opening of the training, the Chair of the NCIC Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, said violence has become a common means of expressing opposition and dissent on most issues especially in African where there are young democracies.

“One of the identified roadblocks to a violence-free election in Kenya is inadequate or total lack of immediate interventions to curb escalation of violence,” Dr Kobia said.  “In our election’s roadmap, we want to strategically disrupt violence by establishing a robust election early warning and rapid response system that will tap into the existing sub-systems across the country.”

As Kenya prepares for election next year, he said, it must address all potential sources of violence. Among the initiatives the Commission is working on includes developing a social cohesion index using a set of quantitative indicators covering critical components such as equity and trust.

During the training, Zambia, which is the first country in COMESA to volunteer for the structural vulnerability and resilience assessment process of the AU and only the third in the Continent will share its experience with Kenya delegates.   Zambia will also hold elections in August this year.

COMESA Secretary General, Ms Chileshe Kapwepwe expressed hope that Zambia’s lessons will provide enough incentives to hasten Kenya to incorporate the use SVAs into the national early warning system.  She assured Kenya, that COMESA and the AU will jointly mobilize the necessary resources to ensure its success.

“Apart from equipping your situation room, which shall be done by the AU, we shall also support the meetings and workshops as well as the recruitment of a consultant who will be identified by Kenya once the country agrees to volunteer to the process,” she said. “We shall also readily provide you whatever technical support that you shall need to ensure that the process is successful.”

Save the Children International Representative Mr. Anthony Njoroge, observed that the most burdensome brunt of armed violence and warfare is borne by children, hence his organization’s resolve to work with regional economic communities’ efforts towards this objective.

“Our commitment is to jointly support the development of child-friendly indicators to strengthen the existing Early Warning System to reflect the actual situation on the ground and provide accurate data for the better protection of children and youth in situations of conflict, for ultimately, a peaceful, secure and stable Africa” he said.

Head of delegation of the Kenya Parliamentary Committee Hon. Prof Zadok Ogutu observed that politicians contribute to political conflicts and the involvement of the legislators in peace building initiatives was appropriate.

The training ends on Friday.

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Chisamba, Zambia, Monday 16 November 2020: Over ten civil society and private sector organizations in Zambia participated in a two-day national consultation workshop on 16-17 November to enhance their role in the COMESA Peace and Security programme as the country prepares to hold general elections in 2021.

COMESA in collaboration with the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) organized the workshop as part of efforts to strengthen collaboration with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the African Union. This is in addition to establishing a Civil Society National Chapter for ECOSOCC in Zambia.

Under this initiative, the capacity of Zambia’s CSOs will be enhanced for better engagement in matters of peace and security in line with the African Union 2020 theme of Silencing the Guns. It will also improve the CSOs engagement with the Zambian Bureau on the implementation of the COMESA Early Warning System (COMWARN). During the same workshop, the participants reviewed the accreditation of local CSOs to the COMESA Programme on Peace and Security (GPS).

The The GPS programme was tasked to ensure the involvement of private sector and civil society organisations on matters of peace and security on a consultative basis. Thereafter, the Rules of Procedure were developed for accreditation to the COMESA Peace and Security Programme.

Head of the Unit, Ms. Elizabeth Mutunga told the participants that once CSOs are accredited to the COMESA programme, the Secretariat provides numerous opportunities to meet and share experiences and to review the impact of the accreditation. Over the years, the Secretariat has collaborated with these organisations to develop and implement some of the current programmes in GPS. Among them is the programme on building the capacity of Member States to address war economies which the accredited CSOs participated in developing.

Accredited organisations also helped during the conceptualisation of the COMESA Early Warning System. The Secretariat has also benefited from their support in activities such as training of COMESA election observers and small-scale cross border traders.

“You will be pleased to know that out of all accredited organisations, Zambia has provided us the greatest support and in addition they have involved us in their programmes and activities,” Ms Mutunga said.

So far, similar national consultations have been held in 16 countries, including Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Head of Programmes for the ECOSOCC, Mr. Nana Kyeretwire addressed the delegates.

Lusaka, Friday, 24 July 2020: Selected Permanent Secretaries (PSs) from the Zambian Government, their representatives and members of the civil society have been sensitized about the COMESA Early Warning System Vulnerability Assessments (COMWARN SVAs) strategy and the Continental Structural Vulnerability and Resilience Assessment (CSVRA).

The one-day session was conducted in Chisamba, 50 kilometers north of Lusaka. The objectives were to obtain PSs inputs on the implementation of the SVA programme for Zambia, and to appraise them on the progress made to institutionalize the SVA process in the country. This is a follow-up on the national multi-stakeholder consultations conducted in September 2018 and May 2019.

The participants also discussed and develop a roadmap on how to take forward the African Union CSVRA process. With the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, Member States such as Zambia can utilize an efficient early warning system to track, monitor and prepare adequately for any disaster.

Zambia’s Minister in the Office of the Vice President Olipah Phiri indicated that the government is on course to undergo a voluntarily structural vulnerability assessment in line with the African Union resolution. Speaking when she opened the workshop, the minister added that in order to effectively respond to all emergencies, the Government has prioritized the establishment of a people-centred early warning system which will ensure timely dissemination of information to communities at risk for them to take early action.

“To this end, the Disaster Management  and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) under the auspices of the World Bank is currently putting up a modern National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) which will act as a command and control centre for  handling all emergencies in the country,” she said.

She described the COMWARN Training as timely given that the country is also preparing for the General Elections in 2021 adding that the government was establishing a Situation Room soon to act as an early warning system for monitoring all the indicators that may trigger internal conflicts.

The meeting noted that conflicts triggered by Climate Change related issues such as access to water and land due to droughts are on the increase. For Sub Sahara Africa alone, Climate change accounts for about 30% of internally displaced persons. However politically, socially or economically motivated conflicts also contribute to the internal displacement of people hence the need to have structural vulnerability and resilience assessment and mitigation strategy.

Secretary General Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, urged the PSs to champion the SVA and CSVRA processes at the national level and start the process of undertaking the process forward by officially writing to the AU.

“COMESA and the AU will work closely together to mobilize the necessary resources for the CSVRA process and we look forward to Zambia being a leader in the region in volunteering and undergoing the CSVRA Process,” she said in a statement presented by Assistant Secretary General in charge of Programmes, Ambassador Kipyego Cheluget.

The PSs were trained on the various aspects of the SVA including its methodology, data sourcing, extraction and interpretation and creation of a national bureau to coordinate SVA process at the national level.

Meanwhile,  the African Union through its representative Ambassador Fred Ngonga who joined the meeting virtually said his organisation was ready to provide support to all its Member States in their efforts to promote peace and stability.

COMESA has so far disseminated SVA outputs including holding of national multi-stakeholders’ consultations in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia.  The Secretariat has also conducted two Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops in Zambia and Kenya for members of their national bureaus.