JUBA–The East African Community (EAC) has adopted regional emergency preparedness and response plan to coordinate efforts among member states to address the anticipated effects of a potentially strong El Niño weather event expected to persist through February 2027.
The plan was adopted on November 6 during an extraordinary meeting of the Joint Sectoral Council on Cooperation in Defence Affairs, Interstate Security and Foreign Policy Coordination in Arusha, Tanzania.
According to a statement seen by Sudans Post, it aims to strengthen early warning systems, protect livelihoods, prevent disease outbreaks and reduce the impact of flooding on infrastructure, agriculture and regional trade.
Speaking at the meeting, Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Community Affairs, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, said member states needed to act collectively rather than respond to the crisis independently.
“This meeting is not routine; it is urgent,” Kadaga said. “The scientists have issued their warnings, and the clouds are gathering over Lake Victoria, the highlands of Burundi and Rwanda, Mount Elgon, Mount Kenya and the Indian Ocean. El Niño is here. We have learnt the hard way, from 1997 to 2023–24, that the cost of unpreparedness is always higher than the cost of preparedness. Our Heads of State have directed that we must never again respond as eight separate countries.”
The warning is relevant to South Sudan, where flooding, displacement, food insecurity and disease outbreaks have repeatedly affected communities, particularly in flood-prone areas along the Nile and other river systems.
According to the EAC, the regional plan is intended to complement national preparedness efforts and strengthen cooperation in areas where climate-related emergencies cross national borders.
The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) told the meeting that El Niño had become established and was expected to intensify, potentially reaching very strong levels. A positive Indian Ocean Dipole could further increase its effects.
The centre forecast above-average rainfall across much of East Africa during the October-December period, with the strongest rainfall signals expected over eastern Kenya and central to southern Somalia.
“The science leaves no doubt, El Niño is already here, and there is a near 100% probability that it will persist through February 2027. The question for our region is no longer whether El Niño will come, but how ready we are when the rains peak,” said Calistus Wachana of ICPAC.
The agency also warned that the effects could continue beyond the rainy season, with flooding potentially followed by drought, prolonged dry spells and cross-border movement of pastoral communities.
ICPAC urged member states to prepare for the entire weather cycle, including possible effects on the March-May 2027 rainy season, and adjust their agricultural, water and livestock management strategies.
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for East African Community Affairs, ASALs and Regional Development, Beatrice Askul Moe, said her government had adopted a coordinated approach led by the National Disaster Operations Centre.
She said Kenya has identified risks in 18 priority counties, prepositioned relief supplies, placed the Northern Corridor under monitoring and deployed cholera response kits in high-risk areas.
“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: no Partner State can manage a transboundary shock of this kind alone,” she said. “We need real-time data sharing, faster border clearance for emergency supplies and a humanitarian corridor across our region. Let our borders be bridges for aid, not barriers.”
Uganda’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Ephraim Kamuntu, said climate-related emergencies could disrupt both security and economic activities across the region.
“When the Katonga River washed away its crossing, regional traffic was paralyzed. A bridge lost at Malaba or Busia would be felt as far away as Kigali,” he said.
He called for a regional mutual assistance framework to allow emergency personnel to respond quickly across borders when requested by a member state.
Tanzania’s Deputy Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Kasper Mmuya, said his country supported the regional plan and had strengthened weather monitoring, prepared emergency supplies and reinforced response teams.
“El Niño does not respect national borders. It demands strong political commitment, collective preparedness and effective regional cooperation, especially across shared resources such as the Lake Victoria Basin,” he said.
The regional plan identifies five priority areas: early warning and anticipatory action; health preparedness and response; infrastructure and tourism resilience; agriculture, food security and livelihoods; and climate-related mobility and displacement.
Priority areas identified include the Lake Victoria Basin, the Tana River and Kenyan coast, the Juba-Shabelle river corridors in Somalia, the Karamoja-Teso cluster, western Rwanda, Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
For South Sudan, regional cooperation on early warning, disease surveillance, food security and cross-border displacement will be important as authorities prepare for possible climate-related emergencies.
The EAC Deputy Secretary General responsible for Infrastructure, Productive, Social and Political Sectors, Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth, said the Secretariat would coordinate implementation through a regional steering committee, an emergency coordination unit and national focal points in each member state.
“This meeting has delivered a tool that brings our Partner States and our Partners behind one common goal: safeguarding the gains of regional integration,” Ariik said.
“A plan on paper does not save lives; implementation does. This is an emergency, and there is no room for delay. The Secretariat will coordinate regional action, mobilize resources and begin operationalizing the Plan immediately.”
He said the Secretariat was already working with UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to support regional preparedness.
The Joint Sectoral Council directed the EAC Secretariat to mobilize resources urgently and prepare an implementation plan by November 30, 2026.
It also set November 25 as the deadline for developing a regional disaster information-sharing dashboard in collaboration with Kenya.
Member states were further urged to implement their national contingency plans, strengthen flood-risk management in shared river basins, protect regional transport corridors and increase rainwater harvesting for domestic use, irrigation and livestock.
The council also called for the restoration of forests and wetlands as part of broader efforts to strengthen climate resilience.
