AU dream of “Africanising” security deferred too long

The Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF), bringing together 10 countries in the region, will be conducting its fourth Field Training Exercise in May 2013 in Jinja, Uganda. But what are the prospects for the continental African Standby Force?It is coming to almost twenty years now since the dream was mooted in the mid-1990s of Africa “Africanising” its security with the establishment of the African Standby Force (ASF).The dream was of a “‘collective security and early warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient response to conflict and crisis situations in Africa,” articulated in the provisions of the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the AU.Rwanda was at the heart of this. It will be recalled the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was one of the factors that spurred the African Union towards the formation of the continental Force. (A major factor was the escalating post-Cold War inter- and intra-state conflicts in Africa.)Findings by the UN’s Panel on UN Peace Operations on the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) noted “lack of political will in the Security Council and by other member states, including Africans” that ensured the genocide.The AU members resolved to demonstrate political will in ‘finding African solutions to African problems,’ leading to the notion of “Africanising” the continent’s security.The current designated date for the operationalisation of the ASF is 2015; a date that, however, has been postponed a number of times – at least three – since 2005. According to two roadmaps elaborating the operationalisation of the ASF, the timelines would have been 2008 and 2010, including expectations of it being operational by 2013, before it was deferred to 2015.In sum, Progress towards ASF establishment has been uneven and the results modest. Under the AU’s Peace and Security Architecture, the requirement was for continent’s five regions – East, West, Central, North and Southern Africa – through regional economic communities and regional mechanisms to develop their own standby brigades towards the formation of the African Force capable of rapid intervention.To date, only two regions – Eastern and West Africa – have demonstrated some ability and seem the most advanced in terms of technical and military capacity to fulfill their role towards the formation of the ASF.The other three regions are not quite there yet, one of the challenges being the levels of “mission readiness” of the military, police and civilian components that are all at vastly different states of establishment. This cuts across the continent, providing some of the obstacles towards the operationalision of the ASF.There are other issues. One of these is Africa’s high dependency on external support, which contradicts the idea of African ownership of peace and security.More profoundly, perhaps, is the fact that the framework to resolve legal quagmires over the ASF architecture is yet to be put in place. This is important to note, as the AU Commission and the regional economic communities and regional mechanisms (RECs/RMs) do not agree over the prerogative of the PSC as the sole ‘legitimate authority’ for mandating interventions.For instance, some RECs/RMs have shown preference for UNSC authorisation for deployments, others on an AU mandate, yet others on the authority of their top-most REC/RM decision-making organs.In the meantime, new threats have emerged such as terrorism and piracy, especially in the Horn of Africa and in West Africa. This has called for a re-think of the conflict and mission scenarios originally intended to be used for ASF deployments.With the above, and other, issues doubts linger as to whether the ASF will be operational by 2015. And though the Eastern Africa Stanby Force is probably the most advanced and “mission ready” among the regions, it may not act until the ASF is operationalised.The pending issues need to be urgently addressed, otherwise “Africanising” security on the continent will remain a dream deferred.Twitter: @gituram

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AU dream of “Africanising” security deferred too long