Last month, 5,400 troops from across Africa participated in a military exercise in South Africa, the last joint exercise before the African Standby Force becomes fully operational. In an email interview, Gilbert Khadiagala, a professor of international relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, discussed the state of multilateral security cooperation in Africa.
WPR: What are the planned objectives for African multinational security cooperation, in terms of institutional architecture and force structures, and where do those plans currently stand in terms of implementation?
Gilbert Khadiagala: The African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Architecture includes the creation of the African Standby Force (ASF), which comprises brigades from Africa’s five regional economic communities: the East African Community (EAC), the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). The AU has pledged to build Africa’s peacekeeping capacity since 2003, but there have been numerous delays due to lack of funding.