Accordingly half of the grant will go into IGAD's commitment in peace enforcement in the Horn of Africa and half into the implementation of the CEWARN mechanism, the Italian embassy told ENA Friday.

Last year, it said, Italy orivuded financial support to the Inter-governmental Authority for Development for the special 'Task Force' implementing the national Plan for Stability in Somalia.

The latest grant was announced at the IGAD Strategy Implementation Committee meeting held here in Addis Ababa on 22 January 2008, it said. "The Italian Government strongly believes that the organization (IGAD) has played and is playing today a decisive role for the stability of Eastern Africa. The challenging tasks of IGAD require a constant effort and support by international community as well as by regional players."

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