East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 9th September, 2022: The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), H.E President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi has presided over the signing of an agreement giving green light to the deployment of the EAC Joint Regional Force, led by the Armed Forces of the DRC in Eastern DRC, to fight the negative forces.
East African Community (EAC) Secretary General, Hon (Dr.) Peter Mathuki and DRC’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Christophe Lutundula Apala Pen’Apala signed the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) at the official residence of the President in Kinshasa, DRC.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 1st August, 2022: The East African Community (EAC) has today officially launched the EAC Election Observation Mission, set to observe the upcoming General Elections in the Republic of Kenya.
The Head of the EAC Election Observation Mission is H.E Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 13th June 2022: The EAC Partner States have re-affirmed their commitment to equip their Armed Forces, police and security stakeholders with training on peace support operations following the successful completion of the 12th EAC Armed Forces Field Training Exercise, dubbed “Ushirikiano Imara 2022”.
The 2-week training, held in Jinja, Uganda, aimed at enhancing Partner States’ Defence Forces’ capabilities in jointly combatting complex security challenges faced in the region.
Speaking, at the closing ceremony of the exercise, EAC Secretary General Hon.(Dr.) Peter Mathuki noted that the region continues to be faced with real and potential complex emergencies, which can easily translate into threats to the social economic, cultural and political wellbeing of the people of East Africa.
“These threats range from porous borders and proliferation of small arms and light weapons, internal strife, terrorism and insecurity and it is thus critical for the region to develop its capacity to handle such emergencies and threats,” Dr.Mathuki said.
The East African Community Co-operation in Defence provides an opportunity for the security forces to chart a way forward on the region’s security challenges.
“We need unity, peace, stability and strength to defend our common interests as East Africans. This will in effect provide a conducive and attractive environment for investment and development of the region,” he said.
The exercise was held in accordance with the EAC Defence Sector calendar of activities and under the provisions of the East African Community Protocol on Cooperation in Defence Affairs whose four pillars include, military training, joint operations, technical cooperation; visits and exchange of information.
This year, all Partner States sent their contingents except the region’s new member the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with General Celestin Mbala Munsense, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the DRC representing the country at the closing ceremony.
The objectives of the Field Training Exercise “Ushirikiano Imara 2022”, included among others; to enhance interoperability between the EAC Partner States’ Defence Forces and other key stakeholders, to evaluate the readiness of the EAC Partner States’ Defence Forces and key stakeholders in response to complex security challenges; and to practice the EAC Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Peace Support Operations, Disaster Management, and Counter Terrorism and Counter Piracy operations.
The Exercise was also meant to practice participants on Command, Control, Communication and information in combined joint operations.
For more information, please contact:
Simon Peter Owaka Senior Public Relations Officer Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 768 552087 Email: sowaka [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 12th May, 2022: The East African Community will conduct the 12th EAC Armed Forces Field Training Exercise (FTX) USHIRIKIANO IMARA 2022 in Jinja, Uganda from 27th May to 16th June, 2022.
The exercise will be conducted in accordance with Article 2 of the EAC Protocol on Cooperation in Defence Affairs under the theme, “Promoting Peace, Security and Stability towards the East African Community Integration.”
The main objective of the exercise is to train the Partner States’ Armed Forces, Police, Civilian components and other stakeholders in planning, and conduct an integrated mission encompassing; peace support operations, disaster management, counter terrorism and counter piracy.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 10th May, 2022: The European Union (EU) has reaffirmed its readiness to continue working with the East African Community (EAC) in combating terrorism and trans-national crime in the region.
The Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Tanzania and the EAC, Amb. Emilio Rosetti, said that any region or country must be stable and secure to deliver on its development goals, adding that peace and stability were the building blocks for the free movement of persons, labour, goods and services, which are the essence of all integration initiatives.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 27th April, 2022: Eighteen Members of the East African Legislative Assembly Committee on Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution are currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a five-day benchmarking visit to the African Union Commission (AUC).
The overall objective of the 25th- 29th April, 2022 visit is to interact with AUC Stakeholders involved in Peace and Security, and Political Affairs as well as acquaint themselves with operationalization of the African Union’s peace, security and political programmes.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 1st February, 2022: The European Union (EU) has reiterated its willingness to support East African Community (EAC) Partner States to curb cross-border security threats in the region.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Tanzania and the EAC, Amb. Manfredo Fanti, disclosed that the EU was implementing various regional peace and security initiatives in the EAC and the Horn of Africa.
Amb. Fanti was speaking during the opening session of the 1st Project Steering Committee of the EAC “Joint Response to Regional and Cross-Border Security Threats” Project in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Regional Protection and Solutions Dialogue for the East and Horn of Africa
Statements of Good Practices and Recommendations
6 - 7 December 2021 Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya
The Regional Protection and Solutions Dialogue for the East and Horn of Africa was held at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya on 6th and 7th of December 2021. The Dialogue was co-convened by UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for the East, Horn, and the Great Lakes, the East African Community (EAC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Representatives of 10 member and Partner States of the EAC and IGAD were in attendance: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Participants included Ministers, Refugee Commissioners and national and international refugee protection and solution experts. The African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) were also represented.
Ebène, Mauritius, November 17, 2021 - " The Maritime Security Architecture can only function fully if there is an interconnection between the national and regional levels.” This is what emerged from the 7th edition of the Steering Committee (SC) of the MASE regional agreements, held this Wednesday, November 17, 2021, by video conference.
Organised by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) through the Regional Maritime SecurityProgramme (MASE) funded by the European Union, this session brought together more than thirty participants representing the seven signatory States (Comoros, Djibouti, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles), the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC), the Regional Operations Coordination Centre (RCOC) and the European Union (EU) Delegation in Mauritius.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 11th November, 2021: The East African Community (EAC) Secretary General, Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki, has hailed the role being played by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in armed conflict situations in Eastern Africa.
Dr. Mathuki said that EAC would scale up its cooperation with ICRC to mitigate or reduce the impact of armed conflict situations in the region.
Dr. Mathuki observed that the security environment around the EAC was not very stable given that there were armed conflicts underway in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia, adding that there was need to safeguard peace within the EAC to spur economic growth and prosperity while trying to restore stability in neighbouring countries.
