DECISION ON THE OUTCOME OF THE TENTH ORDINARY MEETING
OF THE SPECIALISED TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
ON DEFENCE, SAFETY AND SECURITY
The Assembly,
WELCOMES the convening of the Tenth Ordinary meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Defence, Safety and Security (STCDSS) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 9 January 2018;
RECALLS Decision Assembly/AU/ Dec.589(XXVI), adopted by the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly, held from 30 to 31 January 2016, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which directed that “the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC) will continue its mandate pending the AMANI AFRICA II Field Training Exercise After Action Review scheduled for Maputo, Mozambique in March 2016 and the Evaluation Mission to be undertaken by the Commission and the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms to verify the state of readiness of the Regional Standby Forces”;
EXPRESSES APPRECIATION to Member States, the Commission and Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (RECs/RMs) for successfully conducting the AfterAction Review in Maputo in 2016;
COMMENDS the successful conduct, between June and December 2017, of the Verification, Confirmation and Validation of African Standby Force (ASF) pledged capabilities, as conducted by the AU Commission and RECs/RMs, and FURTHER COMMENDS the Independent Panel of Experts led by Professor Ibrahim Gambari for its contribution in this context;
RECOGNIZES the progress made by the East African Standby Force (EASF), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in operationalizing their respective standby forces and ACKNOWLEDGES the efforts of the North Africa Regional Capability (NARC) towards operationalizing its standby force;
TAKES NOTE of the operationalization of the African Standby Force Continental Logistics Base in Douala, Cameroon, including its inauguration by the AU Commission and the Government of the Republic of Cameroun on 5 January 2017, as a major step in the development of the ASF. The Assembly COMMENDS the efforts of the Government of Cameroon in supporting this endeavour to advance peace, security and stability in Africa, as well as the Commission for its efforts in finalizing the acquisition of the African Standby Force Command, Control, Communication and Information Systems (ASF C3IS);
ENDORSES the Declaration of the Tenth Ordinary meeting of the Specialised Technical Committee on Defence, Safety and Security and the outcomes contained therein;
DECIDES that all stakeholders should support the realisation of the full operationalization of the ASF, and harmonise the activities of ACIRC with the Framework of the ASF and enhance cooperation with all ad-hoc coalitions namely, MNJTF, Group of Five Sahel Joint Force and RCI-LRA. In this context, the Assembly URGES the PSC to continue mandating and deploying the ASF for AU Peace Support Operations, including the use of ad-hoc coalitions, in line with the AU Constitutive Act.