East African countries are stepping up efforts to ensure peace and security and combat terrorism and cross-border crimes.

The EAC partner states have until February 15 to ratify the EAC Peace and Security Protocol, a new directive issued by the bloc’s Council of Ministers to promote peace, security and stability within the community and good neighbourliness.

The ministers asked the Secretariat to re-allocate $500,000 from the existing budget commitments of the partner states to fund the EAC Peace and Security Facility in the 2014/15 fiscal year and review it annually.

This comes as ministers of defence and internal security from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda signed a common pact on the establishment of the Mutual Defence, Peace and Security on January 8 in Kigali, deepening the search for closer economic and security ties by the Coalition of the Willing.

Maritime patrols

Under the arrangement, the three countries will form a single defence territory, which means an attack on one will be considered aggression against all three. Also, the armed forces of partner states are expected to work as a team in maritime patrols to ensure that the region’s international waters are free of piracy.

The agreement will be presented to the three heads of state in their next Summit scheduled for end of this month in Kampala.

Simiyu Werunga, the director of the African Centre for Security and Strategic Studies, says that ratifying the security protocol is important for the political federation because all the important state organs of the EAC will have harmonised their laws.

“It will also ensure that EAC countries do not engage in wars among themselves,” said Mr Werunga.

According to an EAC security expert, so far, only Rwanda has completed the process of ratifying the Peace and Security Protocol.

READ: Kenya plans to ratify defence protocol on regional security

“Although the other partner states have initiated the process, they still have to contend with the long ratification processes as prescribed by their laws,” the security expert said.

Ratifying the protocol he said will however pave way for the various security related mechanisms that have so far been concluded.

 “These include the Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution mechanism which is critical to addressing inter and intra state conflicts and de-escalation of tensions,” he said  adding that the net result would be the EAC taking the lead in addressing conflict situations in the region unlike the present situation where the EAC can only look on but to nothing.

 The EAC Protocol identifies, among others, at least 20 objectives for fostering regional peace and security.

These include combating terrorism and piracy, peace support operations, prevention of genocide, disaster management and crisis response, management of refugees, control of proliferation of small arms and light weapons and combating transnational and cross border crimes.

Intrastate conflicts

Having a single defence territory has been a contentious issue among the EAC member states, delaying the ratification of the protocol.

The new pact, however, indicates that Burundi and Tanzania may join in. It also provides for other countries from the Eastern African region, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea to join in the interest of regional peace and security.

The Coalition of the Willing is expected to establish a common foreign policy by October.

Mr Werunga said that while it may be a good move for the CoW partners, from the best strategic security position, it could have been better if they waited for Burundi and Tanzania.

“For the three countries to sign the common security pact without the other two partners, then the acceptability by the international community on security matters will be diminished,” Mr Werunga said.