Eastern Africa Standby Force holds rostering and verification exercise |25 July 2023

Delegates in a souvenir photograph (Photo: Yann Dinan)

The Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) has held a rostering and verification exercise in order to train in case there is ever an intervention in the world, whether  a humanitarian crisis or wars.

The exercise is done every five years to re-register the participants. They go through an interview process to see whether all the components are in place and are placed on a list where they can get called up at any time for a deployment in Eastern African countries.

EASF recruits candidates or seeks participation from the member states depending on the specific fields of expertise.

During the week, there will be short competency-based interviews with all the participants for the purpose of the roster. It will take place over the next three days.

Speaking at the opening ceremony yesterday morning at the Berjaya Resort & Casino at Beau Vallon, the head of EASF civilian component, Dr Leah Barasa, explained that professionalising the EASF and the African Union civilians means clarifying policy guidance and defining policy and peace operations.

“There is a greater awareness of comparative strengths and weaknesses and an understanding of the preconditions that are necessary for us to deliver our mandate effectively,” she stated.

She went on to explain that with the civilian dimension, the team looks at capacities that support the local stakeholders at the local level. EASF has developed what is known as a fast coast; this will be in a package similar to how the Civilian Foundation Coast with regard to Civil Affairs.

“An essential step towards professionalisation is proving our efforts to recruit, select, deploy and appraise staff in the missions to ensure that they are highly qualified and trained as well as engaging them in challenging and satisfying tasks including compliance to the international humanitarian law and gender lens,” she noted.

Furthermore, on a solid foundation and a harmonising recruitment practises and deployment, there can be a better assessment for potential future roles and mission environments ranging from preventive deployments, peace operations in mission areas and specialised civilians, explained Ms Barasa. “If we choose the wrong problems, then it is very unlikely that we will reach our EASF objectives regardless of their relevance.”

She reiterated that this is a very important event for EASF development and in particular, the civilian component capacity building.

The guest of honour, Alvin Laurence who is the chief executive of the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps), said there were three major components, namely the military, the police and the civilian aspect and the exercise will focus mostly on the civilian aspect of things.

“We live our lives on standby and we forget many occasions where we need thorough preparations so that we can better experience those various phases of life,” he stated.

He cited the event that happened over two decades ago which led to the creation of the African Standby Force, and there was a continental approach to help member countries and in the case of Seychelles, the regional body of the EASF, to remind above all that security will always be the priority.

“Seychelles has been blessed by many components. We are indeed proud of our government that over the years, we have been able to honour our engagement.”

However, he noted that all of this was not enough and it is only when the locals are trained and empowered that EASF can achieve and benefit the most from the initiative.

“We should not shy away after the foundation course or after benefitting on an exchange and believe that it is all over. It is for this reason why we must have this exercise regularly and now especially after Covid-19, when we somehow all felt disconnected, to ensure that the team here in Seychelles are prepared for the time that they may be called.”

The EASF rostering and verification exercise is conducted across the ten member states of EASF on a rotational basis. This year it is the turn of Rwanda, Seychelles and Somalia respectively. The last time Seychelles took part was back in 2018.

Sunny Esparon