Senate ratifies regional security pacts

The Senate on Monday ratified the bill which aims at strengthening cooperation in tackling security threats in the region. The bill was tabled by Defence minister James Kabarebe and backed by all senators present. The preliminary mutual defence pact, along with mutual peace and security pacts, were adopted and signed in February this year by the heads of state from Rwanda Kenya and Uganda before being sent to respective governments for further consultations and ratification by parliaments. Among other articles in the instruments is one that states; if one of the three countries’ security was threatened or violated, the rest would as well be affected and therefore concerned. Kabarebe stated that after the final endorsement of the mutual security pacts, action towards regional peace and security threats would be collective. “In case of any security emergencies, the pact provides patent rights for the reigning chairperson of the security council to call a regional Summit which would eventually discuss collective efforts to counter the prevailing security threat,” Kabarebe said. Rwanda is currently chairing the steering committee on regional defence and security which is tasked with fast-tracking the implementation of the pacts. “This is why Rwanda has been at the forefront of the ratification process, right from the time the preliminary pacts were signed by the three heads of state in Kampala, Uganda. We have already set up a framework to operationalise these pacts upon their ratification,” he said. The minister added that the major significance of the pacts is to collectively deal with any threat that could jeopardise regional security as well as prevent any risks of regional conflicts. The mutual defence and security bill was adopted and ratified last month, in a plenary meeting of the Chamber of Deputies. “The mutual defence and security pacts have come to compliment Northern Corridor infrastructural developments which are being implemented at a fast rate,” Kabarebe said. Beyond signatories During the ministerial adoption of the regional mutual security pacts that took place in Kigali, last month, South Sudan and Burundi, participated as observers. The meeting brought together ministers of defence and security. At the time, Kabarebe said that the two observer nations were free to join the framework if they so wished.

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Senate ratifies regional security pacts