African Standby Force: A Song of Sorrow

Abstract

Wars historically, have in no small measure, shaped human existence. Such issues like state formaton, boundary adjustments and consolidation, ethnicity, identity definitions and business relations have been influenced by wars. Africa disproportionately accounts up to forty percent of global conflicts. Although these conflicts have their devastating effects, they have nonetheless shaped the historical evolution of the continent. The methods adopted in resolving such conflicts are crucial to advancing knowledge about the continent. It is against this backdrop that the African Standby force is introduced. The need to establish an African military force was first advanced by the Nkrumah led Casablanca group, even before the birth of the Organization of African Unity in 1963. Though most of the African States that established the OAU that year rejected the idea of a continental military force, yet in 2002, the same states under the African Union (AU) voted for an African Standby Force for the purpose of a military intervention in the domestic affairs of member states in circumstances of genocide and war crimes. This study therefore undertakes to explain the rationale for the African Standby Force in implementing the AU’s right of intervention and to appraise the prospects and challenges for the African Standby Force in implementing such right.