Rwanda was given the task of leading the East African Regional Defense Force (EASF) in a meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya, which brought together the Defense Ministers of the countries in the region.
This meeting was held on Saturday, January 27, 2024, and was attended by the Minister of Defense of Rwanda, Juvenal Marizamunda and other Ministers including those of Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Seychelles while the islands of Comoros could not be found.
The Kenyan newspaper The Citizens reported that the discussions at the meeting returned to the maintenance of peace and how the countries should respect each other based on the borders and the strengthening of the sovereignty of the member countries.
In the 32nd regular meeting of the Ministers of Defense of the EASF, there was also a discussion on how to resolve the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia, Ethiopia and Somalia are at loggerheads over the fact that the Addis Ababa regime signed a cooperation agreement with Somaliland allowing them to operate in the Red Sea.
Somaliland has agreed to lease 20 kilometers of land to Ethiopia for 50 years to set up a shipyard and commercial port, Somalia announced that the agreement aims to damage the good relations between these neighboring countries, and is considered as a threat to the sovereignty of Somalia.
In addition to the various talks between the Ministers of Defense, it was concluded with the handover ceremony between Kenya, who had resigned, and Rwanda, who is going to lead the EASF, In addition to the Minister of Defense who attended the meeting, there was also Col. Jens Gynther Lindvig, who is in charge of military affairs at the Danish Embassy and the head of the EASF Friends Group.
This ministerial meeting was preceded by a meeting of the heads of defense of these countries that met from January 25-26, 2024, which was also preceded by a meeting of EASF experts held from January 22-24, 2024. All the discussions in these meetings were mainly focused on security in the District.
