Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Burundi
On 26 October 2026, Her Excellency Ambassador Else Nizigama Ntamagiro, Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and Development Cooperation, officially opened the recruitment, interview, screening and validation exercise for candidates seeking to join the African Standby Force (ASF) database. The exercise was organised by the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF).
In her address, she thanked the EASF Secretariat and the Embassy of Denmark for their support in organising the exercise. She also commended the participants for their commitment to promoting peace and security in the region.
Ambassador Else Nizigama Ntamagiro noted that the exercise was taking place at a time when armed conflicts, geopolitical tensions and the effects of climate change continue to affect the stability and development of many African countries.
She recalled that the EASF is mandated to maintain military, police and civilian capabilities that can be rapidly deployed to respond to crises. In this regard, she stressed the importance of the civilian component, whose role is essential in peace support operations and the protection of populations.
Regarding Burundi, she stated that twenty civilian experts are currently qualified and available for possible deployment, while another fifty-one are already registered in the database but have yet to complete their assessment process. She encouraged them to update their records and actively participate in the validation interviews.
The Assistant to the Minister also explained that the ASF roster is intended to build a pool of qualified experts capable of responding effectively to the needs of peace support missions. However, she clarified that registration in the database does not automatically guarantee recruitment or deployment, as both depend on operational requirements and the profiles needed.
Concluding her remarks with the motto “EASF, Ready for Peace!, Ambassador Else Nizigama Ntamagiro urged participants to demonstrate professionalism and diligence before officially declaring open the recruitment and validation exercise for civilian experts of the African Standby Force.