27- November-2023
Accession hands EAC mandate to fix Somalia’s security
Salva Kiir is on cloud nine as Somalia’s Mohamud polishes his dancing shoes
As East African Community leaders headed for their summit in Arusha on Friday, most of the talk was about whether, as expected, they would admit Somalia as the eighth member of the bloc or, at a minimum, give it observer status.
One of the sub-plots was South Sudan President Salva Kiir becoming the chairman of the bloc. South Sudan became a full member of the EAC in 2016, and this is Kiir’s first stab at the chair. South Sudan descended into a hellish conflict again in December 2015, two years after its independence.
After many failed attempts, the long-troubled peace settlement seems to finally be coming to fruition. But, with parts of South Sudan still restless, Kiir will be the first leader of a tail-end conflict-state, who presides over the admission of another conflict-state into an economic bloc
Somalia’s admission to the East African Community now hands the mandate to the bloc to fix the Horn of Africa country’s fluid and volatile security under the region’s strategy that seeks to guide regional level interventions in the peace and security sector, to respond to the nature and form of the ever-evolving security threats.
Experts told The EastAfrican that Somalia comes to the EAC with its baggage of security concerns, which includes Al Shabaab terrorism, proliferation of small arms and smuggling related insecurity via the open 3,000km shoreline – Africa’s longest – which co犀利士 uld present new security headache for the region.
Accession hands EAC mandate to fix Somalia’s security
However, under the EAC Peace and Security Strategy, the bloc would deploy a regional force to provide the much-needed support to the Somali National Army, similar to the one it sent to Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last year.
We have already seen this happen in DRC, it’s challenges notwithstanding,” says Ugandan regional security expert. “There is nothing that would stop EAC pursuing the same mandate in Somalia, which doesn’t require the UN’s endorsement.”
Uganda, Kenya and Burundi are already active in the Horn of Africa nation, where they are among the troop contributing countries (TCC) to the United Nations Security Council mandated 19000-strong African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis) force, fighting al-Shabaab since 2007
