Rwanda has become the first member of the EAC to ratify the East African Community Mutual Defence Pact for regional co-operation. President Paul Kagame has assented to the protocol, and the instruments of ratification to be exchanged with partner states have already been issued.

Meanwhile, Kenya is waiting for the protocol to be presented to parliament; in Uganda, the Cabinet has already approved the protocol and submitted it to parliament for ratification.

The pact, agreed to by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, aims to lay the foundation for EAC states to play a bigger role in fighting trans-national crime. The three countries have also committed troops to the East Africa Standby Force, which is backed by the United Nations.
Once adopted, the pact will allow armed forces from member countries to conduct joint military operations when combating terrorism and other international crimes.

READ: New EAC security protocol set to fight terror, crime

During the 8th Summit for the Northern Infrastructure Project held in Nairobi on December 11, Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Paul Kagame of Rwanda set August 2015 as the deadline for adopting the mutual defence pact and directed that Uganda and Kenya expedite the ratification process to meet the deadline.

The three countries signed a common pact on the establishment of the Mutual Defence, Peace and Security Pact on January 8, 2014 in Kigali.

According to Simiyu Werunga, the director of the African Centre for Security and Strategic Studies, 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. In addition, the armed forces of partner states are expected to work together in maritime patrols to ensure that the region’s international waters are free of piracy.

Mr Werunga said 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 war among themselves,” said Mr Werunga.

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

Ratifying the protocol, he said, will however pave the way for various security-related mechanisms that have 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,” Mr Werunga said.

The EAC protocol identifies 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 trans-national and cross border crimes.

Having a single defence territory has been a contentious issue among EAC member states. According to the pact, Burundi and Tanzania can join when they are ready. It also provides for other countries from the wider East African region to sign up, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea.

Mr Werunga said the best security option would have been to wait for Burundi and Tanzania.

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

In an EAC security meeting held in January 2013 to discuss a common security protocol, Tanzania expressed reservations about a clause that required member states to “assist each other” during times of war. It sought clarity on whether one country going to war would enjoin other EAC members.