East Africa Standby Force experts meet in Seychelles |21 October 2014

Heads of defence forces, police chiefs and other experts from the East Africa Standby Force (EASF) 10-member countries are holding their working group meeting in Seychelles.

The two-day meeting was officially opened at the Savoy Hotel at Beau Vallon yesterday morning by the Commissioner of Police Ernest Quatre.
The EASF experts’ meeting will be followed by the 12th extraordinary session of the Eastern Africa Committee of Defence and Security (EACDS). The two-day session will start on Wednesday.

Among the numerous issues related to security, peace and stability in the region to be discussed, also high on the agenda is the finalising of details for the new regional standby force expected to be deployed in December.

It was during a meeting in Kigali, Rwanda in August this year that the defence and police chiefs pledged to deploy some 5,000 troops to the force to be deployed by December to tackle insecurity that is mounting in the East African region.

During yesterday morning opening of the meeting EASF director Chanfi Issimail confirmed that “the force will be operational this December, one year ahead of schedule, with a seven-day deployment readiness standard”.

“It is now more than a conviction that together we will realise the EASF vision, mission, mandate and promote peace, security and stability to greater heights,” Mr Issimail pointed out.

The force is receiving the support and backing of the African Union (AU) which is pushing for a 2015 deadline for each of the five regions — East, West, Central, North and Southern Africa — to develop their own standby forces.

Welcoming the experts before opening the meeting, Mr Quatre stressed Seychelles’ “readiness and determined resolve to fully support the mission of the EASF where it is in our power and ability to do so”.

“The Seychelles Police, a civilian law enforcement agency, is supportive of and commends the work  being done so that our region can stand shoulder high to proclaim that yes indeed we have committed ourselves to preserving the rule of law that our respective societies are founded upon. We are gathered here to consider and propose that we stand together to reject disorder in support of order,” Mr Quatre stressed.

The member countries of the EASF are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.