Intergovernmental Authority on Development

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is a regional organization in the Horn of Africa established in 1996, succeeding the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD), which had been created in 1986 to coordinate responses to recurrent droughts and famine. Its secretariat is based in Djibouti.

IGAD's member states are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda. South Sudan joined in 2011 following independence. Eritrea suspended its participation in 2007 amid tensions over Ethiopia and Somalia policy, though it has periodically signaled re-engagement.

The organization's mandate covers three priority areas:

• Agriculture, environment, and natural resources, including drought early-warning through the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in Nairobi.
• Economic cooperation and regional integration, including infrastructure and trade facilitation.
• Peace and security, coordinated through the IGAD Security Sector Program and the Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN).

IGAD has played a prominent diplomatic role in regional conflicts. It mediated the negotiations that produced the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, ending the Second Sudanese Civil War. It has also led successive mediation efforts in South Sudan's civil war, producing the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) and the 2018 Revitalised Agreement (R-ARCSS). IGAD has additionally convened talks on the Sudan conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

IGAD is recognized as one of the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) that form the building blocks of the African Union's integration agenda. It cooperates closely with the AU Peace and Security Council and with external partners including the European Union, the United Nations, and the IGAD Partners Forum. The organization is led by an Assembly of Heads of State and Government, a Council of Ministers, and an Executive Secretary.