The treaty for the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) warrants that all the partner States shall move together in agreeing to different protocols and locally ratifying them so as to achieve the objectives of the revamped regional bloc.
Under these different protocols, the regional bloc that is one of the most vibrant on the African continent has been running on policies that are agreed upon during meetings of the Council of Ministers and later approved by the Heads of State summit.
Much as there are plans to finally achieve the EAC political federation, currently the partner States enjoy their sovereignty and relate with other countries around the world based on their domestic laws and policies.
The EAC now has seven partner States and with Somalia likely to be admitted as the eighth, has been looking at working on strategic security in order to protect the regional population, assets and infrastructure.
During its recent plenary sittings held in Kigali, Rwanda, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) adopted a report that looks into the issues that are likely to propel the community into realization of strategic security. The report presented by the Committee on Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution followed the legislators’ oversight into the progress made by the EAC on its common foreign and security policies.
The Committee’s report followed nearly 11 months of scrutiny of the Council of Minister’s report on the implementation of foreign and security policies that was laid before the Assembly during a session in Arusha, Tanzania on December 2, 2021.
Foreign policy
According to the report, the EAC Treaty provides that the Community and its Partner States shall define and implement common foreign and security policies with an objective of making the bloc a cohesive organization in its relations with the international community.
While the Protocol was signed in December, 2010, the Committee reported to the Assembly during the recent session in Kigali that it learnt from deliberations with the Department of Political Federation that this protocol is yet to come into force as it awaits the United Republic of Tanzania to ratify it.
“It is more than 12 years to date since the negotiations of foreign policy coordination protocol were concluded; however, this protocol is yet to be fully ratified. The Council did not provide the Assembly with adequate information in its report on the progress of ratification of the protocol on foreign policy coordination. The report does not provide comprehensive information on progress EAC has registered in foreign policy coordination” reads part of the report.
The Assembly in adopting the report has concurred with the Committee in arguing the Council of Ministers to expedite ratification of the protocol on Foreign Policy coordination and providing an update on progress of its implementation.
The recommendation comes at a time when Partner States have not been relating with each other well in terms of relating with neighbours. Uganda and Rwanda got locked in tensions for over two years leading to continuous closure of the border, something that stagnated movement of goods and services. Just recently, the new Partner State, the DRC accused Rwanda of aiding the M23 rebels that are fighting the legitimate government of President Felix Tshisekedi.
Security policy
As strategic security is one of the key objectives of the EAC, the legislators looked into the implementation of the common security policy which includes ending armed conflicts and also combating terrorism which is regional threat.
Like it was with the ratification of the common foreign policy, Tanzania has lagged behind on the concluding consultations on the Mutual Defence Pact for the region, according to the report.
The Committee reported that the EAC department of Peace and Security, revealed that implementation mechanisms are not yet concluded hence recommending to the Assembly to argue the Council of Ministers to appeal to Tanzania to fast track its national consultations on the ratification of the Mutual Defence Pact.
EAC partner states have been rooting for a Mutual Defence Pact in order to; widen and deepen cooperation among the Partner States in Defense Affairs for their mutual benefit; promote Peace and Stability and good neighborliness among Partner States in order to guarantee the protection and preservation of life and property, the wellbeing of the people in the Community and their environment as well as creation of conditions conducive to sustainable development.
With some member states like Uganda and Kenya having suffered terrorist attacks by the A- Shaabab and also the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) a Ugandan rebel group already declared a terrorist group, the EAC has been discussing how to make a joint response to the problem.
The common strategy on combating, preventing and disrupting terrorism activities in the region has been in place since the April 30, 2014 Heads of State Summit with an aim of establishing the East African Counter Terrorism Centre (EACTC).
“The Committee was informed that Partner States agreed on its (EACTC) establishment but the Republic of Rwanda asked for more time to consult on the matter. The Committee recommends to the Assembly to urge the Council of Ministers to: fast track implementation modalities of East African Counter terrorism centre with regard to funding and staffing’ request the Republic of Rwanda to expedite its national consultations on the establishment of the Regional counter terrorism centre” adds the report.
Meanwhile, the Assembly appreciated the efforts being undertaken by the EAC to put in place and implement the regional trans-boundary security framework that is aimed at integrating trans-boundary communities in the regional security arrangements in a structured manner so as to bring an end to challenges created by the long porous borders.
The Committee on Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution has revealed that there is still work to be done because both the EAC e-immigration policy and EAC trans-boundary security framework are still undergoing stakeholders’ validation exercise.
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