Addis Ababa – Angola wants a greater engagement of the Member States of the African Union in the effective operation of African Standby Force.
The initiative was upheld by the Chief of Office of Peace Support Operation Division of the African Union, the Angolan Carlos Pederneira.
The Senior official was speaking to ANGOP in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ahead of the 36th AU Summit scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
He said that the African Standby Force is conceptually active, but operationally not yet “perhaps due to the lack of commitment by the Member States”.
The Major of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), assigned to the Department of Political Affairs of Peace and Security of AU, pointed to deployment of forces as one of great challenges which, according to him, has still not occurred.
He also said the continent is divided into five regions. It was agreed that each region should create a brigade with military, police and civil personnel. And these five brigades integrate the African Standby Force, with its command post based at AU headquarters.
“This means that, when talking about the AU African Standby Force, it is the composition of the five regional brigades”, he clarified.
Currently, the AU’s Standby Force is under the command of also Angolan Lt Gen António Namas Benedito Xavier.
According to Major Carlos Perdeneira, the appointment of the general officer was welcomed, in view of Angola’s experience in conflict resolution management.
The high ranking officer also mentioned the investment in human and financial capital as another challenge facing the African Standby Force.
He regretted the fact that the funding of the project for the standby force come from outside the continent, adding that the partners who finance the projects within the AU they come up with their methods or policies, which sometimes do not match the African reality.
As example, he noted that the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) was operated by the AU with UN consent, which was then transferred to ATMIS.
He made reference to the problem of Somalia which has not been resolved yet, calling for the readiness of the African Standby Force to deal with the situation in Somalia.
Continental logistics base
Major Carlos Pederneira referred to a report by the Department of Peace and Security of the AU that defends greater commitment to improving the continental logistics base, which is a crucial for the Operations of Peace in the continent.
He announced that at the moment material, worth US$66 million, supplied by China, is being unloaded at the logistics base in Douala, Cameroon.
He added that part of this material, worth around US$6 million, is also being used for the AU mission in Mozambique.
This includes support and setting up of the mission to the forces themselves on the ground, as well as for the mission in Somalia.
Source: Angola Press News Agency