An Introduction to the AMANI AFRICA II Exercise Cycle:

The African Union Commission is planning to conduct a field training exercise by November 2015 at the climax of an ongoing training cycle known as AMANI AFRICA II (meaning “peace in Africa,” in Kiswahili). The AMANI AFRICA II cycle aims to develop the African Standby Force (ASF) and ensure it reaches its full operational capability by 2015.

When the ASF is finally operational, it will consist of standby arrangements within Africa’s five sub-regions, composed of multidimensional capabilities, including military, police and civilian, on standby in their countries of origin and ready for rapid deployment. This field training exercise will play a significant role in evaluating the readiness of the African Standby Force to respond swiftly to ensuing conflicts unhampered by any heavy political and instrumental burdens. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is scheduled to host the exercise.

The Exercise which had originally been scheduled for November 2014 in Lesotho was postponed due to the political and security situation during this period. South Africa under the auspices of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), offered to host the Exercise paving the way for the implementation of the remaining activities that comprise the Exercise cycle.

Background:

In October 2010, the first continental exercise of this kind was conducted in Addis Ababa with the aim of evaluating the operational readiness of the ASF. The exercise, dubbed AMANI AFRICA I, Command Post Exercise provided the climax to a two-year training and capacity building cycle designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the African Union Commission, through the Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD), to employ the ASF for an AU mandated peace support operation. The AMANI AFRICA cycle was a collaborative effort between the African Union and the European Union, as part of the implementation of an ongoing strategic partnership between the two organisations.

AMANI AFRICA I focused mostly on validating policies and processes, at the continental strategic level, in employing the African Standby Force within the broader African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). It provided objective evidence to support proposals for further organizational and operational developments of training, procedures and multidimensional capacities of the African Standby Force.

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