Building an Effective African Standby Force to Promote African Stability, Conflict Resolution and Prosperity
Author(s) : Jeffery E. Marshall
Date : April 2009
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[The author is currently the Director, Mobilization and Reserve Affairs, at the US European Command, where he was previously the Deputy Director for Strategy, Plans and Assessments and the Assistant Foreign Policy Advisor. He was the US Ground Force Commander in Bosnia during SFOR X and led a multinational team in Afghanistan that designed the Afghan National Army and built its initial organisation, training programmes, recruiting policies, sustainment programmes, and bases. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University and also has an extensive IT and finance background.
The author believes that the African Standby Force (ASF) holds great promise for promoting stability and security in Africa but that it lacks the critical command and control, and logistics functions, that it needs in order to achieve this promise. His paper analyses the security requirements in Africa, reviews the current ASF design and implementation, determines potential shortfalls in the current ASF roadmap and makes specific recommendations for strengthening the ASF, as well as suggesting a change of focus for international support in order to help implement these recommendations.