EASF Director Meets Vice-President of Seychelles

Seychelles' pioneering role in the fight against piracy, peace and maritime security in the region dominated discussions during the meeting at State House. VP Afif highlighted the importance of EASF in building the capacity of military, police and civilian personnel in matters of peace and security, on his part the EASF Director described the people of Seychelles as very friendly and welcoming and was honoured to be received by the Vice President.

EASF’s vision is to contribute to regional and continental peace, security, stability and enhance regional integration. It is an intergovernmental organisation established under the umbrella of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), which has five components, the Continental Early Warning System; the Panel of the Wise; the African Standby Force; the African Peace Fund and Peace and Security Secretariat.

EASF is one of the five regional standby forces of the African Standby Force with three main multidimensional components namely the military, police and civilians. It is worth noting there are Seychellois in those three components. Currently there are five Seychellois’ working at the EASF.

“I am very happy of the meeting we had, having a strong will and support of the Republic of Seychelles is a clear sign of the importance the country places on ensuring security in the region for the Seychellois people. We also focused our discussion on maritime security and on how best Seychelles can play a key role in the region,” said the EASF Director, while commending the country for what it has done towards achieving those objectives.

With regard to what the organisation has achieved since its formation in 2004, the Director replied “according to me one of the big successes of EASF is to have regrouped ten countries on the same platform, not necessarily having the same religion, the same culture, but by bringing them together, work together as a team is a huge success”.

The Director was accompanied by the Head of the Peace Operations Department and the Executive Assistant. During his visit to the Seychelles the EASF Director will meet with other key stakeholders such as the Board of the Citizens Engagement Platform (CEPS), Minister of Internal Affairs, Leadership of the National Assembly, Commissioner of Police and other high ranking officers. EASF will commemorate its 20^th anniversary this year. EASF has ten member states – Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.