Understanding the African Standby Force, rapid deployment and Amani Africa II

This fact sheet provides an overview of the African Standby Force (ASF), its Rapid Deployment Capability (RDC), the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC), and the Amani Africa II field training exercise. It details the ASF's structure, mandate, funding challenges, and its relationship with other African Union (AU) peace and security mechanisms.

• The African Standby Force (ASF) is a multi-disciplinary continental peacekeeping force consisting of military, police, and civilian components. It is one of five elements of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), alongside the Peace and Security Council, Panel of the Wise, Continental Early Warning System, and the African Union Peace Fund. The ASF's structure comprises 25,000 personnel divided into five regional brigades of 5,000 personnel each, based on the North African Regional Capability (NARC), the Eastern African Standby Force (EASF), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
• The ASF includes a Rapid Deployment Capability (RDC), a force of 2,500 personnel per regional economic community/regional mechanism (REC/RM) that can be deployed within 14 days to address emergencies such as genocide, war crimes, and gross human rights abuses. The ASF's broader mandate includes restoring peace and security, preventative deployment to stop the spread of conflict, monitoring peacekeeping missions, and providing humanitarian assistance.
• The African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC) was created in 2013 as a stopgap measure to provide rapid deployment before the ASF became operational. While both have similar goals, ACIRC is self-funded, based on voluntary participation, and allows for peace enforcement, whereas the ASF focuses on conflict prevention and peacebuilding and requires significant AU funding. ACIRC is intended to be merged into the ASF's Rapid Deployment Capability.
• The ASF faces several operational challenges, including limited logistics and airlift capacity, lack of training, equipment shortages, and slow decision-making. To address logistics, a continental logistics base is planned for Douala, Cameroon. Funding is a significant hurdle; the AU is expected to provide 25% of the funding, with the remaining 75% relying on external support from the EU, UN, and bilateral sources.
• Amani Africa II is a field training exercise held from 18 October to 5 November 2015 at the SA Army Combat Training Centre in Lohatlha, South Africa. Funded primarily through the EU's African Peace Facility, the exercise involves approximately 5,400 representatives from member state defence and police forces. Its goals are to test the operational readiness of the ASF and its RDC, identify critical gaps, and determine how to integrate the ASF and ACIRC.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2015). Understanding the African Standby Force, rapid deployment and Amani Africa II. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/4-11-2016-ASF-Amani-Media-Toolkit1.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Understanding the African Standby Force, rapid deployment and Amani Africa II. 2015. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/4-11-2016-ASF-Amani-Media-Toolkit1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Understanding the African Standby Force, rapid deployment and Amani Africa II |date=4 November 2015 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/4-11-2016-ASF-Amani-Media-Toolkit1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2015understanding, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Understanding the African Standby Force, rapid deployment and Amani Africa II}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/4-11-2016-ASF-Amani-Media-Toolkit1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }