The proliferation of overlapping sub-regional organisations in Eastern Africa: An opportunity for or a challenge to the security of the region?

ABSTRACT This article examines whether the proliferation of overlapping sub-regional security organisations in Eastern Africa is an opportunity or a challenge to the security of the region. To this end, I used secondary sources of data. The data analysed show that the duplication of security institutions has detrimental effects namely, financial problems, inefficiency and ineffectiveness, conflictual competition, forum shopping and regime shifting. As far as the positive aspect of it is concerned, there have been negligible cooperative attempts, while all other possible positive effects discussed in the conceptual framework part are missing. Thus, it is evident from the findings that the proliferation of sub-regional organisations in Eastern Africa is more of a challenge than an opportunity to maintain peace and security in the region.