[01] Yohannes Tekalign Beza, Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

Kwame Nkrumah’s Pan-African dream of establishing African High Command meant to protect the newly created post-colonial African states in 1961 did not borne fruit because most of African states opposed and rejected it due to the perceived threat it posed on their sovereignty. However, the failure of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) dealing with the prolonged conflicts in the continent, the horrific Rwandan genocide incident of 1994, and the belief that without peace, development and prosperity could not take root in Africa provided reasons for the shift from the OAU to the African Union (AU) in 2001 and revived Nkrumah’s idea of African wide security force, which eventually brought to existence the African Standby Force (ASF) in 2002. Since then the ASF has achieved some successes in responding timely to conflicts in Africa despite the fact that its efforts were largely concealed by various challenges that it faced. Research works that have so far been done in the subject lack inclusiveness in terms of what constitute these challenges. In line with such gap, the analysis of the data obtained from the literature, confirms that the challenges that the ASF grappled with range from political, financial, material to technical.

African Standby Force, Organization of African Unity, African Union, Challenge, Success

[01] Adedeji A, (1999) (ed.). Comprehending and Mastering African Conflicts. London: Zed Books. [02] AU (2000). Constitutive Act of the African Union. OAU Assembly, Lome, Togo, 10-12 July; entered into force on May 26, 2001. [03] AU (2002). Protocol relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (i.e. PSC Protocol), 9 July 2002. [04] AU (2003). The Policy Framework for the Establishment of the African Standby Force and the Military Staff Committee. Adopted by the Third Meeting of African Chiefs of Defense Staff, 15-16 May 2003. [05] AU (2005). Roadmap for the Operationalization of the African Standby Force. Experts’ Meeting on the Relationship between the AU and the Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution, Addis Ababa, 22-23 March. [06] AU (2010). African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA): Assessment Study. Addis Ababa. [07] Bachemann O, (2011). The African Standby Force: External Support to an “African Solution to African Problems.” IDS Research Report (April) No. 67. [08] Cilliers J, (2008). The African Standby Force: An update on Progress. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Paper No.160. [09] De Coning C, (2007). Peace Operations in Africa: The Next Decade. Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, Working Paper No. 721. [10] Dier A, (2010). The African Standby Force put to the Test. Zurich: Center for Security Studies (CSS), Analysis in Security Policy, No. 84, November. [11] Ekengard A, (2008). The African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS): Experiences and Lessons Learned. Stockholm: FOI, Swedish Defense Research Agency. [12] Feldman M, (2008). Problems Plaguing the African Union Peacekeeping Forces. J. of Def. Sec. Analy., 24 (3): 267-279. [13] Girmachew A, (2008). The African Standby Force: Major Issues under ‘Mission Scenario Six’. J. Polit. Persp., 2 (1): 1-22. [14] Guicherd C, (2007). The AU in Sudan: Lessons from the African Standby Force. New York: International Peace Academy. [15] IRSEM (2011). The African Standby Force: Confronting African Security Challenges? The Institute of Strategic Research, Conference Report, Paris 26-27, April. [16] Kasumba Y, Debrah C, (2010). An Overview of the African Standby Force (ASF). In de Coning C, and Kasumba Y, (Eds.), The Civilian Dimension of the African Standby Force, pp.10-19. Addis Ababa: African Union Commission. [17] Kinzel W, (2008). The African Standby Force of the African Union: Ambitious Plans, Wide Regional Disparities: An Intermediate Appraisal. Berlin: Research Paper. [18] Lotze W, (2013). Strengthening African Peace Support Operations: Nine Lessons for the Future of the African Standby Force. CIPO. [19] Marshall J, (2009). Building an Effective African Standby Force to Promote African Stability, Conflict Resolution and Prosperity. Crisis States Discussion Paper, No. 16. [20] Moller B, (2009). Africa’s Sub-regional organizations: Seamless Web or Patchwork? Regional and Global Axes of Conflict. Danish Institute for International Studies, Working Paper 56. [21] Murithi T, (2005). The African Union: Pan-Africanism, Peace-building and Development. Farnham: Ashgate. [22] Ndomo A, (2009). Regional Economic Communities in Africa: A Progress Overview. A Study Commissioned by GTZ, Nairobi, May 2009. [23] Nibishaka E, (2012). Peacekeeping in Africa: Can the African Regional Standby Forces Delivers? Southern Africa: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. [24] OAU (1963). The OAU Charter. Adopted by African Heads of States and Government on May 25, 1963, entered into force on September 13, 1963. [25] Pham J, (2009). Too few good men and- even fewer supplies: the challenge of peacekeeping in Africa. Available at: http://worlddefensereview.com/pham12067.shtml [26] Solomon D, (2010). The Role and Place of the African Standby Force within the African Peace and Security Architecture. Pretoria: Institute of Security Studies, Paper No. 209. [27] Svensson E, (2008). The African Mission in Burundi: Lessons learned from the African Union’s first peace operation. Stockholm: Swedish Defense Research Agency. [28] UN (2014). The United Nations Peacekeeping Background Note. New York: The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. [29] UNSC (2009). Support to African Union Peacekeeping Operations Authorized by the UN. New York: The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon report to the UNSC. [30] Vines A, (2013). A Decade of African Peace and Security Architecture. J. Inter. Aff., 89 (1): 89-109. [31] Vines A, and Middleton R, (2008). Options for the EU to Support the African Peace and Security Architecture. Brussels: European Parliament. [32] Vorrath J, (2012). Imbalances in the African Peace and Security Architecture: The Current Approach to Capacity-building needs to be challenged. Berlin: SWP. [33] Walraven K, (1999). Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organization of African Unity in the Politics of Africa, 1963-1993. Aldershot: Ashgate. [34] Yoh J, (2008). The Institutional Role of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Conflict Resolution in Africa. University of South Africa: Unpublished PhD Dissertation. [35] Young J, (2007). Sudan IGAD Process: An Evaluation: available at: sudantribune.com/IMG/.../Igad_in_Sudan_Peace_Process [36] Zemelak A, (2012). Sub-regional Organizations and Conflict Management: The Case of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD). Addis Ababa: Forum of Federations.