Policy Framework on ASF and MSC Part One

Chapter 3

Introduction

African Member States, in transforming the OAU to the African Union (AU), have created a Protocol to enhance peace and security on the Continent. Central to this is the Peace and Security Council (PSC).
In establishing the PSC, AU Member States have clearly indicated that they are willing to take additional concrete steps for peace and security in Africa . In particular, they have signaled their intention to expand their willingness to take risks for peace, and again indicated they are ready to accept their share of responsibility for ensuring durable development of the Continent, particularly in the area of peace and security.
The protocol establishing the PSC sought to create a number of structures, including the African Standby Force (ASF) and the Military Staff Committee (MSC). To advance consideration of these issues the AU has embarked on a process to prepare a Policy Framework . The Policy Framework was considered, improved and revised by the AU Regional Economic Communities and other African and External Partners at Addis Ababa on 14-15 April 2003, and subsequently by a meeting of Government Experts in Addis Ababa from 12-14 May 2003.

ACDS Recommendations
The Meeting noted that the African Chiefs of Defence Staff made a number of substantive recommendations in their Second Meeting, held in Harare, in 1997 (See Annex A). In particular, these included the following important recommendations relevant to this Policy Framework:
1. All Peace Support Operations in Africa should be conducted in a manner consistent with both the UN and the OAU Charters and the Cairo Declaration. This will enable the OAU to mobilize for action and to acquire UN support for the initiative.
2. The conflict situation should guide the level at which the OAU considers involvement. In an emergency situation, the OAU should undertake preliminary preventive action while preparing for more comprehensive action which may include the UN involvement. The emphasis here is for speed of action and deployment. As a principle, the OAU should take the first initiative in approaching the UN to deploy a peace operation in response to an emergency in the continent. If the UN is unresponsive, the OAU must take preliminary action whilst continuing its efforts to elicit a positive response from the world body.
3. Where the OAU deploys a peace operation, this should be an all-African force.
4. Operational procedures for the planning and conduct of Peace Support Operations exist and are well documented at the level of the UN. The OAU should use these references and adapt them to unique continental and organizational factors.
5. The OAU could earmark a brigade-sized contribution to standby arrangements from each of the five African sub-regions as a starting point, which could then be adjusted upwards or downwards according to evolving circumstances.
6. The OAU should identify about 500 trained military and civilian observers (100 from each sub-region) as an appropriate starting point for standby capacity.
7. The OAU should devise a standard structure for battalions, brigades, and perhaps even a division for future OAU deployments.
8. Training should be conducted according to UN doctrine and standards, and should draw on the available training materials, training aids and courses available through the UN system. UN training manuals should be complemented by Africa specificity.
9. Centers of expertise for Peace Support Operations training should be established, which are capable of conducting research into training; formulating guidelines for training; producing common training syllabi; and conducting control and evaluation functions.
10. The Secretariat be tasked to establish a stand-by system to be based on Member States' indication of peace support capabilities. These would include information on size and types of forces on stand-by and their general standards of training, equipment and state of readiness.
Development of African Peace and Security Initiatives
The ACDS recommendations should be taken in the wider context of overall developments in African peace and security. The Meeting also noted that for some time now, in particular over the last decade, commencing with the Cairo Declaration of 1993, African Member States and Regions have increasingly addressed peace and security on the Continent, and developed the capacity to participate in peace operations at the continental and regional level. An outline of the history of this development, the existing operational capability, and a number of critical limitations to the conduct of peace operations are at Annex B.

Conflict and Mission Scenarios
A number of typical conflict scenarios, outlined below were used to develop the proposals in this document:
1. Scenario 1 AU/Regional Military advice to a Political mission.
2. Scenario 2 AU/Regional observer mission co-deployed with UN mission.
3. Scenario 3 Stand alone AU/Regional observer mission.
4. Scenario 4 AU/Regional peacekeeping force (PKF) for Chapter VI and preventive deployment missions.
5. Scenario 5 AU PKF for complex multidimensional PK mission-low level spoilers (a feature of many current conflicts).
6. Scenario 6 AU intervention – e.g. genocide situations where international community does not act promptly.