\Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and current Chair of the East African Standby Force, has informed the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, that the East African Standby Force is ready for deployment.
Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Louise Mushikiwabo, delivered the message from President Kagame to the Chairperson on Tuesday during a meeting ahead of the 24th AU Summit of Heads of State and Government this week.
The minister said all member States of the East African sub-region have contributed in various ways to activate the Standby Force, which is ready to deploy in three months.
The AU leaders long agreed to set up the African Standby Force (ASF) within the framework of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) in order to address the challenges of peace, security and stability on the continent.
As one of the key components of the APSA, the ASF consists of standby multidisciplinary contingents stationed in their respective countries of origin and ready for rapid deployment as soon as required.
The mandate of the ASF covers a wide range of actions, from observation and monitoring missions, humanitarian assistance, to more complex peace support missions, intervention in a member State in grave circumstances, or at the request of a Member State, to the restoration of peace and security, preventive deployment and peace building.
Mushikiwabo informed Dlamini-Zuma that President Kagame would soon be handing over to the next Chair of the East Africa Standby Force.
She said that with a resource mobilization strategy in place, the sub-region will be ready for a sustainable deployment.
Photo: Training for Peace
