The 6th EXTRA-ORDINARY Meeting of Council of Ministers of EASBRIG concludes
The 6th Extra-Ordinary Council of Ministers Meeting of the Eastern Africa Brigade was held in Nairobi, Kenya, last week. Preceding the meeting of the Council, the Chiefs of Defence Staff and the experts meetings were held from the 14th to 17th June 2010 and presented their respective reports of their meetings to the Council.
The Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of the Eastern African Region, Mr. Ougoureh Kifleh of the Republic of Djibouti, welcomed all the delegates of Member Countries to the 6th Extraordinary Council of Ministers of Defence and Security. He urged the participants not to rest until they make the mission and vision of EASF a reality and the institution becomes viable in all areas. It requires consultations, time, patience, energy, financial sacrifice to make EASBRIG a viable international institution, he underlined. He praised countries of the region for having overcome some major obstacles in the process to reach the final phase of EASBRIG’s consolidation.He underlined that the meeting would focus on the finalization and consolidation of the initial structure of EASBRIG to make it multidimensional through the integration of civilian, police and maritime components into the Planning Element; and on re-energizing the functioning of the Organization. He concluded by paying tribute to friends and partners of EASBRIG for the financial, intellectual and technical support they provided throughout the development of the regional institution.
Opening the meeting officially, Mr. Musalia Mudavadi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for local Government of the Republic of Kenya welcomed participants to Kenya and to the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Defence and Security of the Eastern African Region. He noted that the meeting would discuss very important issues concerning peace and security in the region. One of the key issues was the conflict that continues to inflict pain on the conscience of the African continent. Apart from the immense human suffering and destruction wrought by these conflicts on the people, he emphasised that they also divert scarce resources needed to address many socio-economic challenges that member states face. He urged the participants to realize that, at this time, Africa could not afford any more conflicts; rather, he emphasised, it ought to work on resolving the bigger conflicts already brought about by poverty.
He recalled that in trying to mitigate the effects of conflicts on the continent, Africa had in the past mostly relied on the international community to intervene. Unfortunately, recent trends indicate reluctance to engage in what is seen as a peculiarly “African Phenomenon” with regard to conflict resolution; and conflicts in Africa are left to boil underneath and come to notice only too late, and after they had imploded. He noted that peace and security were complementary pillars to economic development. They play a critical role in creating an enabling environment upon which all economic activities take place. He stressed that the goal of a peaceful and secure Africa at peace with itself and the world was definitely not beyond the region’s reach. Africa has the necessary human resources to handle its problems. He further underlined the need for the region to work collectively and suggested the starting point would be a programme of action to secure a peace dividend for the continent. A good start was the signing of the protocol establishing the African Union Peace and Security Council at the inaugural Summit of the African Union held in Durban, South Africa in July 2002. The Heads of State and Government of the Eastern Africa Region followed up with a commitment through the adoption of the Policy Framework establishing the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade at the 1st Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April 2004.
He recognised the efforts made by the Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Mechanism that has brought together the Member States of Eastern Africa. He, however, cautioned that what had been achieved so far was just the easiest part. The commitment to the Eastern Africa Standby Force in terms of concrete contributions of troops and financial resources is the main test for the whole initiatives. He urged member states to prepare their pledged troops appropriately and to honour their respective financial obligations in order to invest in a peace dividend. He thanked the international development partners for their continued support and for standing by the region on all major activities.
The meeting also received an extensive briefing on developments in Somalia from the fact finding mission EASBRIG dispatched to Mogadishou in April 2010. The AU's representative also informed the meeting on the recent developments in Somalia and the challenges faced by AMISOM on the ground and asked EASBRIG to make whatever contribution to ensure the success of the mission. The Defence Minister of Somalia who attended the meeting also informed the Ministers that any effort to succeed in Somalia should base itself on strengthening the role of the TFG institutions in peace building and peace-making. Unless the TFG is made the core of this effort, it would be challenging and even impossible to make headway on the ground.
After extensive deliberations on the matter, the Ministers agreed on a proposal on the possible deployment of EASBRIG forces to Somalia under AMISOM, for consideration of the IGAD Summit which planned to be convened on the sidelines of the AU meeting in Kampala in July 2010. The Ministers also emphasized the need to support the TFG security sectors in terms of building their capacities.
The meeting also considered the establishment of the Maritime cell, the number, rank and duties of the officers to hold positions in the Maritime Cell to be placed within the PLANELM. The Ministers welcomed the offer by Djibouti to host the Maritime Centre.
On administrative matters, the Ministers also looked at the unbalanced representation of Member States on staffing of EASBRICOM.
The meeting was informed on the progress made in the development of a framework defining the principles, scope and procedures to regulate the support of the Friends of EASBRIG (FoE) and decided that EASBRICOM finish developing a working document that would be used by the Experts Working Group from Member States at the next Policy Organs meeting. This working document will define the relationship between EASF and Friends of EASBRIG.
The meeting also received a presentation on the Annual Assessed Contribution of 2010 including a breakdown of arrears for previous years and called on member states to pay their arrears and Annual Assessed Contributions for the year 2010.
The meeting also considered a presentation of three samples of the proposed synchronized EASF flag. The meeting selected a sample which aligned with the AU flag and symbolizes the region's effort in peace efforts.
Having heard the report of the High Level Legal and Political Experts meeting that was held in Addis Ababa from 2nd–4th June 2010, participants of the meeting suggested amendments to the Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of EASBRIG signed in 2005. This will be considered by the forthcoming Summit of member states.