Somalia Assumes Chairmanship of East African Standby Force for the First Time

GOOBJOOG NEWS|KIGALI: Somalia has assumed the leadership of the regional East African Standby Force, taking over from Rwanda.

Somalia’s Defence Minister Abdulkardir Nur received the flag of the EASF from his Rwandan counterpart Juvenal Marizamunda, during the 33rd Annual Policy-Making Conference of the EASF Heads of State held in Kigali, Rwanda.

This is the first time Somalia is taking the chairmanship of the East Africa Stanby Force since its formation in 2005.

What is EASF?

The EASF is one of the five regional multidimensional Forces of the African Standby Force (ASF) consisting of Military, Police and Civilian components.  EASF was established as a regional mechanism to provide capability for rapid deployment of forces to carry out preventive deployment, rapid intervention, peace support/stability operations and peace enforcement.

The other four components of ASF are Northern Standby Brigade (NARC), Western Africa Standby Brigade (ECOWAS), Central African Standby Brigade (ECCAS) and Southern Africa Standby Brigade (SADC).

Membership

The EASF comprises ten members; Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, which are signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of the Eastern Africa Standby Force (MOU).  

 The EASF is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.