East African Community Secretariat has partnered with African Union Border Programme to sensitize border officers and communities around to reduce the risks of cross border transmission of the coronavirus.
The Secretariat has availed 9600 pamphlets on secure cross border movements, in English, French and Swahili outlining EAC, World Health Organization (WHO) and Interpol guidelines on secure management of borders and cross border movements.
EAC secretariat has also issued 16000 reusable masks, 12800 gloves and 1600 bottles of sanitizers to selected 16 One-stop Border Posts within the EAC region. These materials will serve both the 16 OSBP and their immediate surrounding border communities.
“Additionally, a training on governing borders during the pandemic and in case of other emergencies will be provided electronically (and where possible physically) as well as a support for the mobility of border officers to sensitize border communities and monitor informal border crossing points via the provision of motorcycles,” EAC Secretariat said in a statement yesterday.
Each One Stop Border Post in the Partner States will receive 300 guideline pamphlets on secure cross border movements, 500 reusable Face Masks, 400 gloves and 50 bottles of sanitizers for each of the One Stop Border Post. The Secretariat has availed this support through the ministries in charge of EAC affairs in the 6 Partner States.
On behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Andrew Musiime, Director EAC Affairs in Uganda, applauded the strong and successful partnership between the EAC and the German Government in all EAC sectors. He underlined the significance of raising awareness amongst Ugandan citizens about the dangers of COVID-19. He also thanked the Government of German for their continued support to EAC through GiZ; and more so to the Department of Peace and Security in areas of capacity building, training, equipment and logistics.
Handover in the Republics of Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan are planned to take place in the coming 2 weeks.
The EAC has been swift to develop guidelines to complement Partner States measures to fight against the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has and continues to bring several changes in daily lives particularly affecting movements including cross border movements. The handed over support and subsequent capacity building measures will reinforce border officers providing essential cross border movements despite the pandemic and finding themselves and the border communities in the frontlines.
The Federation of East African Freight Forwarders (FEAFFA), the regional body of clearing and forwarding agents is also developing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to guide day to day operations of customs agents, freight forwarders and warehouse operators in East Africa. The development of the SOPs has been brought by the need to have a common approach for sector players in order to facilitate the movement of goods and services through border corridors while implementing the measures against COVID-19.
The SOPs will be key in guiding industry players within East Africa as they continue providing the essential freight logistics services while maintaining the highest health and safety standards against the COVID-19. Besides, the SOPs will also complement efforts being put in place by EAC and its partner states in the implementation of a harmonised regional approach to curb the spread of the virus and ease cargo movement through borders.
