KIGALI - Six senior Rwandan army officers participated in the just concluded 10-day final phase of a continental exercise to gauge the readiness of the Africa Standby Force (ASF), in Ethiopia.

On October 20, the African Union (AU) ASF began the final phase of the "Amani Africa Cycle” with a command post exercise (CPX) aimed at determining and furthering the force’s operational capability.

Over 120 African military components and police forces, 75 civilians and various EU partners, were involved.
Army and Defense Spokesperson, Lt. Col. Jill Rutaremara, revealed that participants from Rwanda included Brig. Gen. Frank Mushyo Kamanzi, the Chief Exercise Control at the Joint Exercise Centre.

Others are Col. Muzungu Munyaneza, a subject matter expert [logistics], Col. Martin Ndamage, of the Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD), Lt. Col. Zuberi, Lt. Col. Francis Mutiganda and Maj. Claude Bizimana.

According to Rutaremara, an AU-EU partnership was adopted in Lisbon in December 2007 and one of the actions of the joint strategy is the full operation of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).
ASF, one of the major pillars of APSA, is required to be fully operational this year.

"The aim of the exercise is to evaluate the effectiveness of the AU Commission, through the PSOD to deploy the ASF for an AU-mandated multidimensional PSO mission,” he said.
According to the AUC, after the exercise is completed, ASF procedures will be evaluated and refined.  The AU council will later determine when the force will be activated.

As further noted, once operational, the Africa Standby Force will deploy in times of crisis in Africa, taking their experience to the next level by providing assistance to Africans and helping bring peace and stability across the continent.

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