Africa-Press – Angola. The Chief of Staff of the African Union Peace Support Operations Division, Angolan Carlos Pederneira, defended, this Tuesday, in Addis Ababa, a greater engagement of the AU Member States for the operationalization effective African Standby Force.
The Angolan official, who was speaking to press, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), within the framework of the 36th AU Summit, to take place Saturday and Sunday, specified that the AU African Force on Alert State is conceptually active, but operationally not yet “perhaps due to lack of commitment from the Member States”.
According to the Major of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) assigned to the Department of Political Affairs of Peace and Security of the AU, the great challenge facing the African Force in State of Alert is its deployment, which has not yet happened.
The continent is divided into five regions and what was agreed, said the source, is that each region should create a brigade with military, police and civil components and these five brigades make up the African Standby Force, with the its command post based at AU headquarters.
“It means to say that, when talking about the African Standby Force of the AU, it is the composition of the five regional brigades”, he clarified.
Currently, the UA’s State of Alert African Force is under the command of also Angolan Lieutenant General António Namas Benedito Xavier.
According to Major Carlos Perdeneira, the appointment of this general officer was very well received, given Angola’s experience in conflict resolution management.
He added that the other challenge facing the African Standby Force is investment in human and financial capital.
“We have situations here at the AU that if we have a project for that force, we still have to seek funding outside the continent”, said the official, for whom the partners who finance projects within the AU come with their modalities or policies, sometimes misaligned with African reality
He informed that the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) was operated by the AU with UN approval, which was then transferred to ATMIS.
“If we don’t have support from partners, the mission will end and we are not in a position to finish it because the problem in Somalia has not yet been resolved, hence the need to have the African Force on Standby ready to cover this force in Somalia,” he maintained.
mainland logistics base
Major Carlos Pederneira referred to a report by the Department of Peace and Security of the AU that advocates greater commitment to improving the continental logistics base, which is a fundamental piece for Peace Operations in the continent.
He made it known that, at the moment, material worth US$66 million, supplied by China, is being unloaded at the logistics base in Douala, Cameroon.
He added that part of this material, worth around US$6 million, is also being used for the AU mission in Mozambique, from support and establishment of the mission to the forces on the ground, as well as for the mission in Somalia.
Angolan cadres at the UA
The African Union (AU) has Angolan staff who have received a positive assessment for their competence and high qualifications, to exercise relevant positions at the AU.
In the AU’s Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security alone, five Angolans are deployed on duty, three in the military and two in the civil field.
In the corridors of the UA headquarters, press came across young Kevim Masseca and Weza da Fonseca, 28 and 25 years old, respectively, lending their knowledge to the continental organisation.
Weza da Fonseca, trained in Conventry, in the United Kingdom, says that she had a very good insertion in the Department in which she works, having had the support of a Ugandan colleague who has worked at the UA for eleven years.
“It is a unique experience because on a professional level, working in the capital of African diplomacy greatly enhances and enriches our professional curriculum”, emphasized Weza da Fonseca, calling on other young Angolans with the right profile to also join the UA staff.
“We were part of the countries that most contribute to this organization, but we are still not well represented”, he pointed out.
He made it known that after President João Lourenço received the title of Champion for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa, there is a dialogue unit within the AU responsible for handling the Champion’s agenda.
On the issue of the DRC, for example, he said, “we have the Champion for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa as a fundamental piece for solving this problem, due to our history and our reconciliation process”
The Angolan Executive, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been working towards creating the conditions that allow Angolans to compete for the provision of vacancies at the level of International and Regional Organizations.
For this purpose, it created a platform to allow Angolans anywhere in the world to have access to a set of relevant and useful information on the process of inserting staff in international organisations.
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