East African countries meet in Uganda on anti-terrorism
KAMPALA, Feb 13, 2004 (Xinhua) — Chiefs of defense staff from east African countries Friday started their meeting in Jinja, some 80 km east of Kampala on combating terrorism in Africa.
The meeting will discuss establishing an African Standby Force (ASF) and Common African Defense and Security Policy (CADSP) to combat terrorism on the continent, according to a report from local media.
“African defense ministers have met in the past to establish that force. Africa was divided into three or four regions and each region is to put up a brigade (3,000 soldiers) that will be merged into the ASF. Our region of eastern Africa is meeting in Jinja for that purpose,” Uganda Defense Minister Amama Mbabazi told local media on Friday.
He said Uganda is hosting chiefs of defense staff from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, the Sudan and Uganda.
“Their main task is to discuss in detail the structure, operationalization of the force and write a detailed report to us, the ministers of defense and security, for further scrutiny and eventual implementation,” Mbabazi said.
The first meeting of African ministers of defense and security took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Jan. 20-21 this year.
The meeting reviewed the framework documents related to the establishment of the ASF and the CADSP.