The first tranche of the African Union (AU) Peace Fund has been allocated to the East African Community (EAC) for its standby force in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
AU’s commissioner for political affairs, peace, and security,
Bankole Adeoye, stated this at the end of the AU Summit’s mid-term review in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday.
The DRC is due for elections in December this year, and instability in the east could have negative effects on the smooth-running of the polls.
“US$2 million (about R36 million) from the AU is being disbursed for the first time to the East African Community (EAC) regional force, which is based in eastern DRC,” Adeoye said.
He added the funding of the EAC was a sign the AU was serious about fostering peace and the act was a combined effort that “displays African ownership”.
The peace fund covers operational activities, mediation and preventive diplomacy, institutional capacity, and peace support operations of the AU.
In July 2016, the AU resolved the fund would receive about R5.85 billion in endowments in 2017 and R7.2 billion in total by 2020.
The use of the fund comes as the AU deals with growing cases of terrorism, violent extremism and unconstitutional changes in governments.
To date, four African countries – namely Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Guinea – have been suspended from the AU after military takeovers between 2020 and 2022.
Adeoye said: “Five regions are now battling with one form of extremism or the other. It is pervasive, it’s spreading, but we have an opportunity for collective security.”
While in successive meetings at AU and regional bloc levels, heads of state have spoken with one voice for collective security, funding has been a major challenge.T