Ten regional army chiefs are meeting tomorrow in Kampala to discuss regional security and the readiness of East African Standby Force to make prompt deployment in the conflict-prone areas.
According to the meeting programme issued by the UPDF Directorate of Information on Monday, the army chiefs are from 10 countries that constitute the newly created East African Standby Force [EASF].
The countries are; Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda which has already pledged one battalions to the Force.
“The Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF), a regional (10 Member States) organisation whose mandate is to enhance peace and security in the Eastern Africa region, will be hosted by Uganda through this week,” the statement reads.
EASF whose mandate to deploy is determined by African Union was supposed to be part of the 5,000 proposed continental force to deploy in Burundi in 2016 before President Pierre Nkurunziza threatened to attack the force if it was deployed.
The Force is one of the five regional Forces of the African Standby Force formed in 2002 by African Union to do maintain peace and security on the continent.
The other Forces include; SADC Standby Force for Southern Africa, ECOWAS for West Africa, ECCAS for Central Africa and North African Regional Capacity Force.
According to the UPDF statement, the ministers of defence from the member states will meet on tomorrow at Imperial Royale and on Friday the army chiefs, the ministers, university students, legislators and UPDF officers will march from the Uganda Railways Headquarters, Kampala to Hotel Africana
©Alleastafrica and Daily Monitor
