MEETING ON AU STANDBY FORCE CONVENES IN GABORONE Time has come for Africans to translate into concrete action, the resolutions adopted by their heads of state and governments during the 21st African Union (AU) summit, which called for African solutions to African problems. This was said by the former President of Guinea, General Sekouba Konate, when officiating at the Amani Africa II main planning conference in Gaborone yesterday. The conference brought together planners from the AU Commission with the objective of validating the capacity of the AU to mandate and employ a Rapid Deployment Capacity (RDC) of the African Standby Force (ASF). The ASF was a start-up operation that would run as a full multidimensional peace support operation. The meeting was also meant to fast track the effective operationalisation of the ASF. “Without the ASF the African continent would continue to rely on foreign interventions to resolve its crisis. Therefore member states must ensure that they own the ASF and fund activities designed for its effective operationalization,” said General Konate. He added that while appreciating the contribution of its international partners, Africa could not and should not abandon its responsibility to manage African crises. General Konate commended African heads of states for making a landmark decision to equip the AU with an ASF, especially considering the violent and resurgent conflicts that undermine Africa’s development efforts while taking a heavy toll on human lives. When making a presentation at the meeting, Lt. Col. Roberto Arcieri, the European Union representative, explained that the peace and security partnership aims to ensure adequate, coherent and sustainable support for the establishment of and function of the African peace and security architecture. “The partnership supports an African led effort in all stages of the conflict cycle. The partnership is meant to promote long term capacity building including; military, police and civilian crisis management and coherent and coordinated support for the ASF,” he said. (BOPA)
Posted on: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 05:40:23 +0000
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