The East African Community (EAC) has acquired an $11 million funding from European Union (EU) to combat insecurity within the regional and cross border spheres.
The funding came to light yesterday in Arusha-Tanzania, whereby it targets to fuel a 45-month programme on regional response to the growing security threats in the bloc with six nations—and with the fastest growing economies in the continent.
EAC secretary general Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko launched the joint programme with the EU ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Manfredo Fanti. The Ambassador heralded the long-standing partnership between the EAC and EU in peace and security sector which is a key player to the integration process in East Africa.
The programme is rather vital to the bloc’s strategies to propel further their $193 billion combined Gross Domestic Products (GDP), which include importation and exportation of goods and services occurring via borders in the region.
According to The Citizen, the programme will be implemented by the EAC secretariat and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and will complement several other initiatives to provide peace and security in the region of more than 177 people.
In the pursuit of industrialization and free trade operations among the block member states, security is at the center of investment and trade, as companies won’t invest in developing countries without legal order and security which are fully observed.
Unequivocally, the EAC has observed over the past decade an emergence of terrorism, drugs trafficking and illegal immigration, which have marred the blocs collected efforts to promote tourism and further foreign direct investments.
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In that context, the grant will assume various shape for the sake of socio-economic development in the region.
According to Mfumukeko, the grant was part of 85 million euros ($93 million) the EU has disbursed to the bloc for a five-year period (2016-2021) to support various development initiatives in the region.
The initiatives include the 10 million euros ($11 million) for the Africa Peace and Security Architecture (Apsa) and 4.8 million euros ($5.2 million) for the Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Project.
Another initiative is the Eastern and Southern Africa-Indian Ocean (ESA-IO) Maritime Security Project whose implementation, which ended on October 14, 2019.
