Eastern African leaders have, at the sidelines of the African Union Summit this morning, approved the agreement on the establishment of the Eastern Africa Standby Force elevating it from the status of a memorandum of understanding.
The Summit of Heads of State and Government of Eastern Africa Standby Force was chaired by President Paul Kagame.
Others leaders who attended the Summit include; Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza, Ethiopia's Hailemariam Desalegn, Dr. Ikililou Dhoinine President of the Union of Comoro and Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Djibouti Mahmoud Youssouf, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Seychelles Jean-Paul Adam, Somalia's Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed and Gen Bakry Hassan Sakih, First Vice President of The Sudan.
"We shall pay our assessed contribution. The money we lose through insecurity in the region is much more than that when we have peace. If you are to compute the money in trade losses because of the instability in Congo, you will find that it is huge. Therefore, it is not a question of pledging, it is understanding the comparison between gains and losses," President Museveni said as he addressed the Summit.
EASF partners directed that a Force Pledging conference be held by the 1st week of August 2014.
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