African Standby Force | AfSol Journal

Tag: African Standby Force

Multidimensionalism or Militarism? A Decade of Experimentation in African Peace Support Operations

Posted by admin | Jun 8, 2026 |

The relationship between the military, police, and civilians within the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) has, at times, been characterised by considerable tension and mistrust. This bears direct implications on the effectiveness of the African Union in promoting peace and stability on the continent. This article explores the evolution of the African Standby Force (ASF) based on case studies of the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) and ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) to understand why and how the 2015 bench mark for achieving ASF’s full operation capability did not happen. The article argues that, with regard to the uncertainty surrounding the evolution of the ASF; it is not enough to focus solely on the macro-level factors affecting the evolution of ASF. Instead, internal processes and structures such as the attitude of peacekeepers to each other is, without doubt, an inseparable part of the ‘sluggishness’ in the realization of a rapid deployment capability (RDC). It is, therefore, more appropriate to consider the role of internal processes and civil-military power relations in the evolution of the ASF post-2015.

A Critical Analysis of the Requirements for Full Operationalization of the African Standby Force: Lessons Learned from the Eastern Africa Standby Force

Posted by admin | Apr 6, 2019 |

It is evident from attempted coups d’état, contested elections, violent protests and riots, constitutional amendments to extend of terms of presidents, religious fundamentalism, terrorism, foreign interventions and other structural problems in Africa, which threaten the political equilibrium, that there are a various types of conflicts that need to be dealt with (See Institute for Security Studies, October 2017:10-21). This calls for a strengthened, enhanced and effective regional collective security arrangement. The African Union (AU) established the African Standby Force (ASF) for peacekeeping purposes as well as possible interventions when conflicts degenerate, and implement its motto of “African solutions to African problems”. This continental Force is being developed in five multi-dimensional regional brigades with military, police and civilian components but its operationalization took much longer than planned. The question is why? What are the hurdles? What needs to be done to fully operationalize it? This paper critically analyzes these issues and develops a ten-step procedure on what needs to be done to fully operationalize the ASF based on experience gained from the Eastern Africa Standby Force, one of the regional components, which declared full operational capability ahead of schedule in 2014.