{{Rwanda will from today host Ministers of Defence and Chiefs of Defence Staff from Eastern Africa Region attending the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) meetings scheduled (August 18- 22). }}
The Ministers and Defence chiefs will be attending the EASF Policy Organs Meetings of the Council of Ministers of Defence and Security and the Eastern Africa Chiefs of Defence and Security.
The 12 Ordinary Policy Organs meetings are organized under the theme:
“Eastern Africa Standby Force towards Full Operational Capability”.
These four-day meetings are taking place following the decisions of the EASF Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held on 26 June 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea at the sidelines of African Union Summit, to fast-track EASF Full Operational Capability by December 2014.
For the first time, the EASF meetings will be attended by Inspectors General of Police and Representatives of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the EASF Member States due to the multidimensional nature of the force to be deployed in a Pease Support Operations setting.
For the past ten years, the regional force 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.
The Republic of Rwanda, Host Nation, is the Chair of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of Eastern Africa Region, Council of Ministers of Defence and Security of Eastern Africa and the Committee of Eastern Africa of Chiefs of Defence Staff and Security.
EASF, which was established in 2004 with the primary mandate of enhancing peace and security in the Region, draws its membership from ten Member States namely Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
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