African Standby Force
During the 1990s, a series of violent conflicts in Africa, most importantly the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, urged the African states for a change in their common security collaboration.
[10] In December 2013, an assessment of the African Standby Force by an AU Panel of Experts concluded that the ASF is unlikely ro achieve FOC in 2015 without major efforts made by all stakeholders.
[9] Article 13 of the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) foresaw an ASF to be composed of standby multidisciplinary contingents, with civilian and military components in their countries of origin and ready for rapid deployment at appropriate notice.
For that purpose, the protocol urged the member states to take steps to establish standby contingents for participation in peace support missions decided on by the PSC or intervention authorized by the AU Assembly.
The strength and types of such contingents, their degree of readiness and general location should be determined in so-called Peace Support Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and shall be subject to periodic reviews depending on prevailing crisis and conflict situations.
[2] The detailed tasks of the ASF and its modus operandi for each authorized mission are to be considered and approved by the Peace and Security Council upon recommendation of the commission.
At the end of 2013, the Expert Panel of the AU stated that the goal, recommended in Roadmap III, to test, evaluate and operationalize the RDC by 2012, was not met.
According to the AU, it provided objective evidence to support proposals for further organizational and operational developments of training, procedures and multidimensional capacities of the ASF.
[9] In January 2006 Ishaya Hassan of Nigeria was promoted to major general and assigned as the chief of the standby force staff, located in Addis Ababa.
He met Libya's chief of staff for Army Mechanised Units and executive director of the NARC, Major General Ahmed Oun.
[15] On 28 May 2010, the NARC Executive Secretary, Major-General Ahmed Oun, signed, on behalf of NARC, the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities and the Regional Standby Brigades of Eastern Africa and Northern Africa, at the Headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa.
A partial legal basis is given by Article 21 of the ECOWAS Protocol Relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security of December 1999.
[14] In 2005, a team of ECOWAS P3 Development Partners (AU, EU, USA, UK, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Netherlands), the UN Standby High-Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) together with the ECOWAS Mission Planning Management Cell (MPMC) met and produced an overarching framework document for the operationalisation of the ESF.
The ECOWAS Operational Framework phased the process by first of all establishing an ESF Task Force (ESFTF) with 2773 soldiers of all ranks which was certified in 2009 in the form of a logistics exercise.
However, the memorandum of understanding has been drafted, and meanwhile (2010), there is a firm commitment of the different states leaders to provide personnel and facilities to facilitate any deployment of the Force.
[citation needed] Made up of military contingents from ECCAS member states, its aim is to carry out peace, security and humanitarian aid missions.
The only binding legal framework governing the FOMAC is the document known as "Catalo 2010", signed February 28, 2008 in Libreville, Gabon by Member States.
In the East of the continent, the regional agent of ASF is known as the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF), since 2007 led by a Coordination Mechanism (EASFCOM).
[14] EASF's Brigade HQ and Logistics Base (LOGBASE) are both located at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while the Planning Element (PLANELM) is co-located with EASFCOM in Nairobi, Kenya.
[14] The PLANELM is conducting capacity building activities within itself as well as within Members States of the region to ensure that all the multidimensional elements of the Force are on standby in their respective countries for AU peace support operations.
In this regard, the International Peace Support Training Center (IPSTC), located opposite of EASFCOM in Nairobi, provides assistance.
[14] Intended to provide peace and security to the region, it was established by a memorandum of understanding that set out its functions and limitations, its methods of deployment, and its system of funding, command structure, and logistics.
[24] The members who have signed the initial agreement include Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Madagascar, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
[24] The Planning Element (PLANELM) of the SADC Standby Force was established with the military, police and civilian components, but is experiencing shortfalls in staffing.
SADC, unlike other RECs and RMs, has limited number of partners due to a policy of self-reliance on issues of peace and security.
[5] Most importantly, it recognized that ASF was not able to reach its Full Operational Capability (FOC) by 2010, a goal that was set in previous Roadmaps and key documents.
[5] Similarly, the AU experts ascertain that the RECs/RMs did not reach the full capacity to deploy a mission headquarters for Scenario 4 involving AU/regional forces.
[9] One important criticism of the ASF is the accusation that, due to the delay in its establishment, the Force could not be used as a tool of peacemaking in the latest occurrence of crises in Africa, such as the fight against the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, the war in Somalia, as well as the ongoing conflict in Eastern D.R.
