African leaders discuss rapid-deployment emergency force
Lazarus Sauti
African leaders opened talks on Tuesday in South Africa to discuss the
formation of a rapid-deployment emergency force to swiftly intervene in crises
on the continent.
The idea of the new force is to bridge the gap pending the coming into
operation of the long planned fully-fledged peacekeeping African Union’s
African Standby Force.
Host South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma said: “The aim is to enable Africa
to act swiftly and independently in response to the urgent security challenges
this continent faces.
“This decision came about due to the realisation that independent and swift
African responses to crises that arise on our continent could not wait while
the building blocks of the African Standby Force are carefully being put in
place.”
President Zuma goes on to say: “We believe that the time has come that
African leaders must be able to act in the interim – swiftly, decisively and
when needed.
“We need to ensure that we are not helpless or slow to respond without the
help of external partners.
He said the continent can, and has the capacity and means to act swiftly
and decisively.
Furthermore, President Zuma expressed hope that by end of this year, there
will be “a mechanism that can breathe life into our aspirations for African
ownership and leadership in immediately and urgently responding to security
challenges faced by this great continent.”
The new force will go by the name the African Capacity for Immediate
Response to Crises.
Comments
Post a Comment