On 11 August 2009, the third meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), chaired by the United Nations, was held in Gali.
The meeting continued the discussion on some practical arrangements of work. In light of the agreement reached in Geneva on 17-18 February 2009 on IPRMs, participants also discussed what should be considered an “incident”, and held an initial discussion on the terms of reference for “agreed joint visits”. The meeting then addressed several substantive questions.
On substantive matters, a brief assessment of the general security situation was given, and participants exchanged information and views on what they considered to be recent incidents. Participants undertook to share relevant information, to the best of their knowledge, when addressing specific incidents. An informative exchange of views took place with respect to the movement of local residents through crossing points and some suggestions were made, and discussed, in this regard.
Despite divergent views on underlying political issues, all participants continued to engage constructively in the discussions.
It was agreed that the next meeting of the IPRM would take place in Gali on 8 September 2009.