Last week, army chiefs of staff and Ministers of Defense from countries involved in the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASBRIG) met in Kampala. A two day army chiefs’ meeting was followed by a Council of Ministers meeting. EASBRIG is one of the five regional forces of the African Standby Force (ASF), being set up under Article 13 of the AU’s Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (of 2002). These are to have responsibilities with respect to the deployment of peace support missions and interventions in accordance with the Constitutive Act of the AU. The ASF will be composed of standby multidisciplinary contingents ready for deployment at appropriate notice

The other elements of the ASF are: the Southern African Development Community’s Standby Brigade (SADCBRIG); the Central African Economic and Monetary Community Standby Force (CSF); the Economic Community of West African States Standby Force (ESF); and the Northern Africa Standby Brigade (NORTHBRIG). A Memorandum of Understanding for EASBRIG’s establishment by the Member States of the Eastern African Region was concluded in April 2005. EASBRIG has its Brigade Headquarters and a Logistics Base in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) while its Planning Element (PLANELM) and the Coordinating Mechanism (EASBRICOM) are located in Nairobi (Kenya). Until the creation of EASBRICOM in January 2007, the establishment of EASBRIG was being coordinated by IGAD (the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development). The countries from which EASBRIG will be drawn are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, though not all are participating. Eritrea, for example, refuses to have any involvement.

Last week’s Chief of Staff’s meeting was largely technical dealing with this year’s Command Post Exercise which is already underway in member states, and with the development of the force generation concept, which the Brigade Commander is expected to finalize in the near future. The budget was proposed, and passed by the Council of Ministers. There was animated discussion on a policy framework document produced after last year’s Seychelles workshop suggesting the creation of an East African Peace and Security Secretariat with a number of different directorates to replace current structures. The Council of Ministers agreed this needed further study. EASBRIG Member States including Ethiopia have already committed the necessary troops and equipment for the realization of its objectives; and EASBRIG now plans to have a fully operational and multi-dimensional integrated brigade by 2010 to fulfill East Africa’s requirements in the AU’s proposed African Standby Force.