EASF Member States sign Agreement for Pledged Forces

The Ministers of Defence and Security from the Ten Member States of the Eastern Africa Standby Force signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Pledged Forces today, 22nd August 2014 in Kigali, Rwanda. [Communique]

This was during the 17th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Defence and Security.

The MOU marks, yet another key step in the preparation of the regional Force for Full Operational Capability (FOC), planned for December 2014 and subsequent participation in on-going Peace Keeping Missions.

In his opening statement, Hon Gen James Kabarebe, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Rwanda, reiterated the commitment of Ministers of Defence and Security of the Eastern Africa region to expedite the ratification process of the Agreement on the Establishment of the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF).

This Ministers' meeting was preceded by the session of the Eastern Africa Chiefs of Defence and Security in which key recommendations were made on various issues to facilitate the final preparations towards FOC.  

For the past ten years, EASF has been preparing a multidimensional force by building capacity in the Military, Police and Civilian components to address security threats and challenges in the Region.

All the ten Member States were represented.