The 28th Ordinary Policy Organs Meetings of Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) member states concluded Friday, December 18, with a renewed commitment to financially support the body so it achieves its mission, an official told reporters.

Brig Gen Fayisa Getachew, the EASF Director, said that at the end, a report was endorsed entailing, among others, an approved five-year plan for the regional organisation.

"There is also renewed commitment to support the EASF financial status since this was put on top of the agenda of discussions. And, this is very big for the standby force," Getachew said.

Earlier, on Wednesday, Getachew said they have been able to achieve several objectives including maintaining force readiness for deployment, but the financial constraints persisted.

Each member state is required to contribute an annual assessed contribution.

Only four member states including Rwanda, the Comoros, Kenya and Ethiopia have, so far, submitted their annual assessed contributions for 2020, officials told The New Times.

According to the EASF's 2019 annual report, the approved budget for the financial year 2019 was $7.4 million. But member states' actual remittances for the same financial year totalled $4.5 million.

The EASF, a regional organisation whose mandate is to enhance peace and security in the Eastern Africa region, comprises 10 active member states:  Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

The Force is one of the five regional multidimensional forces of the African Standby Force (ASF) comprising military, police and civilian components. The components stay on standby for rapid deployment at appropriate notice as provided for in the peace support operations scenarios of the ASF.

Getachew on Friday said that during the just concluded meeting, the Council of Ministers decided to include a force from Sudan, significantly boosting the regional force's numbers.

"In this meeting, the Council of Ministers has also decided to include in our standby force the contingent from Sudan," he said.

"This is great news for EASF because it means that the number of our ready forces increased from 6,000 to 7,000. This is a big number (that comes) to support peace support operations in our region. And we are ready to deploy."

Initially, in an August 2014 pledging conference, held in Kigali, countries committed to raise a military fighting force of 5,000 troops. The EASF declared full operational capability in December 2014.

By then, it had an equipped multidimensional and multinational force of 5,200 personnel - military, police and civilian components.

Currently, Rwanda's Brig. Gen. Vincent Gatama is EASF Force Commander, based at the body's staff headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His three-year mandate will end in 2023.

Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Albert Murasira, on Friday appealed to his counterparts as well as Defence Chiefs from member states to redouble efforts in confronting forms of war and conflict in the region.

Friday's session wrapped up deliberations that started in Kigali on Monday, with an experts working group meeting.

Murasira said the region is facing numerous threats to development and the situation in the larger Horn of Africa remains of particular concern.

"It is time to redouble our efforts in confronting these forms of conflict and war in the region and re-align our strategies to emerging conflict situations and scenarios," Murasira said.