|The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), and other key regional blocs have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to streamline the deployment of the African Standby Force (ASF).
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Gen. Birame Diop, signed the agreement on behalf of the West African bloc in El Alamein, Egypt, during the Fifth Policy Session of the Inter-Regional Knowledge Exchange on Early Warning and Conflict Prevention (I-RECKE).
The signing was held on the sidelines of the 8th AU Mid-Year Coordination Meeting.
The MoU establishes a clear operational framework defining the specific roles, duties, and operational command between the AU and Regional Economic Communities (RECs)/Regional Mechanisms (RMs) across all stages of standby force management–including preparation, logistics, troop employment, deployment, and post-deployment phases.
Under the updated arrangement, regional standby brigades will be trained, harmonised, and formally mandated by the African Union to execute Peace Support Operations (PSOs) and intervene during complex humanitarian and security emergencies across the continent.
Other regional bodies that endorsed the agreement alongside the AU and ECOWAS include the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the North African Regional Capacity (NARC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).