dc.description.abstract | The modern state has had limitations as the sole provider of peace and security to its people. This
is related to the post-cold war security challenges such as the increased number of intra state
conflicts, the effects of globalization on security matters and other new security challenges like
non-conventional warfare. These new security dynamics call for concerted efforts among states
in managing conflicts and maintaining peace and security, both at the international level,
regional and sub-regional levels. In Africa, based on Chapter VIII of the United Nations
Organization security Charter which provides for pacific settlement of local disputes through
regional arrangement or sub regional agencies, and based on the need for concerted efforts in
responding to African problems using mechanisms that best suit the continent, the continent
formed the Organization of African Union, and later the African Union to help manage conflicts
in the region. At the sub-regional level, several regional economic communities with overlapping
membership and competing objectives were formed in the Eastern Africa to help the region
achieve economic growth and development. However with the realization that human security
was important to achieving economic growth and development in the region, most of these RECs
had to restructure so as to include security in their agendas.
The Eastern Africa region has been regionalizing its peace and security initiatives through the
existing RECs and regional development organizations. The latest security mechanism that has
been developed to help address security threats in the region and beyond is the Eastern African
Standby Force. This is the Eastern Africa’s sub regional branch of the continental collective
security mechanism-the African Standby Force. | en_US |