Complements or Competitors? The African Standby Force, the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises, and the Future of Rapid Reaction Forces in Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn May 2013 the African Union proposed the creation of an institutional framework for a new continental rapid-response force called the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises. While the creation of the rapid-response force has offered hope as an antidote to the recent continental inaction in the face of insurgencies in places like Mali in 2013, it has undergone critical scrutiny because it seemingly duplicates—and thus arguably draws resources away from—a similar mechanism, the African Standby Force, which has been in development by the African Union and regional communities since 2003. A contemporary debate is thus emerging: Certain observers favor the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises’ new, ad-hoc, slim, and voluntary approach to collective security, while others argue that the African Standby Force’s preexisting—though underdeveloped—regionally based, comprehensive, and institutionalized framework should receive top priority. This article offers overviews of both institutions and the various debates currently surrounding them. In the main, it argues that while critiques that the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises is duplicative of the African Standby Force are superficially cogent, deeper analysis shows that this is not the case. Rather, the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises is a laudable stopgap measure for continental rapid-deployment capabilities until the more bureaucratically complex African Standby Force is fully operationalized. Rather than undermining the African Standby Force, the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises is instead highly complementary. Indeed, it is likely the case that some of the more successful components of the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises will ultimately be incorporated into the African Standby Force’s rapid-deployment capabilities once the latter is ready for operations in 2015 or beyond.