AU, ECOWAS, Regional Blocs Sign MoU on African Standby Force By Raymond Enoch
The African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other regional blocs have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the framework for the preparation, deployment and employment of the African Standby Force (ASF) in peace support operations and complex emergency situations.
The agreement was signed by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. General Birame Diop, on behalf of the regional organisation during the Fifth Policy Session of the Inter-Regional Knowledge Exchange on Early Warning and Conflict Prevention (I-RECKE) held in El Alamein, Egypt, on October 3, 2026.
The policy session took place on the margins of the 8th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting and brought together continental and regional actors involved in early warning, conflict prevention and peace and security.
The MoU provides a framework for clarifying the respective roles and responsibilities of the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Mechanisms (RMs) in the preparation, employment, deployment and post-deployment of the African Standby Force.
Under the arrangement, regional standby forces will form an important component of Africa’s collective peace and security architecture, with the capacity to be mandated by the AU to undertake Peace Support Operations and respond to complex emergency situations.
Other signatories to the agreement include the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the North African Regional Capacity (NARC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The agreement is expected to strengthen coordination between the AU and regional organisations by establishing clearer institutional responsibilities across the different stages of standby force operations.
It also represents an effort to enhance the continent’s capacity to mount coordinated and African-led responses to conflicts and emergencies, particularly where regional crises require collective intervention.
The development is significant against the backdrop of persistent security challenges across different parts of Africa, including armed conflicts, terrorism, political instability and other emergencies with regional and cross-border implications.
By providing a common framework for the operation of the African Standby Force, the MoU could help address coordination gaps and improve preparedness among the AU, RECs and regional mechanisms involved in peace support operations.
For ECOWAS, the signing further reinforces the region’s role within the continental peace and security architecture and underscores the importance of regional mechanisms in supporting Africa’s collective response to crises.
The ECOWAS Standby Force, in particular, has emerged as a significant model of regional preparedness and collective security cooperation, demonstrating the importance of having an organised regional capacity capable of contributing to peace-support operations when required.
Its experience and institutional framework could provide useful lessons for the broader implementation of the African Standby Force, particularly in the areas of regional coordination, force readiness, rapid response and cooperation between regional and continental authorities.
The signing by General Diop therefore places ECOWAS at the centre of efforts to strengthen the operational link between Africa’s regional security mechanisms and the continental peace and security architecture, with the ultimate objective of improving the continent’s capacity to prevent conflicts and respond effectively when crises occur.
