The Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) is a constituent organization of the African Standby Force (ASF) and which falls under the African Union (AU). The establishment of the organization in 2004 followed the ratification of the AU Peace and Security Protocol by the 1st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Durban, 9 July 2002. This was done in order to enable the AU Peace and Security Council perform its responsibilities with respect to the deployment of Peace Support Operations (PSO) or Missions and intervention pursuant to article 4 (h) and (j) of the Constitutive Act. Currently the EASF is composed of 10 active member States that include Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

The objective of the Eastern Africa Standby Force is to carry out in a timely manner the functions of maintenance of peace and security, as mandated by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union in accordance with the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

The EASF is composed of standby multidisciplinary contingents, with civilian, police and military components in their countries of origin and ready for rapid deployment at appropriate notice. In the conduct of its business, the EASF is guided by the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, and other regional and international legal instruments. Ownership and manning of EASF belongs to the Member States without prejudice to their responsibilities and sovereignty.