The African Union says at least $1 billion is needed to finance the establishment and operationalisation of the continental stand-by force.
The African Stand-by Force (ASF) is expected to be operational by the end of this year. It will be made up five regional brigades namely the North Africa Regional Standby Brigade (NASBRIG), the East Africa Standby Brigade (EASBRIG); the Force Multinationale de l’Afrique Centrale (FOMAC – Central Africa), the Southern Africa Standby Brigade (SADCBRIG) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Standby Brigade (ECOBRIG).
Addressing experts of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Commission at a progress review meeting held in Victoria Falls, AU Peace Operations Division head Sivuyile Bam said the five continental blocs have made some progress in setting up regional brigades but the unified force lacks critical funding of up to $1 billion for its operationalisation.
“We are here at this annual meeting where we are looking at progress made so far in establishing the Africa Standby Force (ASF) so we have a tool that will enable the AU to respond to crises,” Bam said.
However, he said the force will depend almost totally on development partners for funding for logistical support, equipment, food and other essentials for its upkeep while on deployment as African countries are unable to fund the force.
Bam said the AU wants the force to have at least 25 000 members who will be ready for deployment anywhere on the continent at short notice should the need arise. The meeting, which brought together AU defence and security experts, ended on Friday with a meeting of continental defence ministers which re-affirmed the need for Africa to have its own force to deal with conflicts.
Zimbabwean defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi said it is critical for Africa to operationalise the force to avoid situations where the European Union and other foreign powers undertake military interventions to stop African conflicts as happened in Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR) in the last few years.
AU Peace and Security Council secretary Dr Admore Kambudzi said that “Significant progress has been made in ASF capacity building, including the development of the ASF civilian roster, training and exercises which will culminate this year in the Amani Africa II exercise. The issue of the African capacity for immediate response to crisis is a question that the AU and its member States are determined to effectively address,” Kambudzi said.
Further, he said the AU is working towards setting up a continental logistical base and regional depots and components of the ASF command, control and communication information systems.
The ASF is the most critical component of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and is empowered to intervene in a member state if the continental body feels that there are grave conflict circumstances such as war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity.
It can also be deployed at the request of a member state in order to restore peace and security. Its roles include observation, monitoring and peace support missions.
The ASF can also be sent on preventive deployments in order to stop a dispute or a conflict from escalating or an ongoing violent conflict from spreading to neighbouring areas or states and to stop the resurgence of violence after parties to a conflict have reached an agreement.
It can also be deployed on peace-building missions which include post-conflict disarmament and demobilization and humanitarian assistance missions.
Apart from East Africa, most regional blocs have made very little progress towards operationalisation of the force. In December 2013 an AU Panel of Experts said the ASF is likely to miss the 2015 target because of disagreements and political differences between some members states.
The panel said the force was also suffering from a slow development of the civilian component while political problems persisted because there was no written procedure integrating the AU political decision making process and mission planning for the force.
The experts also noted the lack of awareness and commitment among the different member states and lack of institutional capacity and effective coordination between the AU and regional blocs among other factors hobbling progress towards the setting up of the ASF.
The ASF was also found to be lacking the ability to manage the complex peacekeeping operations it is expected to undertake. It was initially scheduled to be operational by 2008 but failed to meet the target, forcing a postponement to 2010.
It also missed that deadline and was postponed to 2013 and failed again, leading to the new 2015 target. The delays have been attributed to failure by the regional blocs in setting up their respective brigades as most member states had not signed any binding legal frameworks to facilitate the integration of forces.
