Pretoria – The South African government has pledged its support for the establishment of an African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises on the Continent (ACIR).
The decision to establish ACIR was adopted by African Union member states on Monday at the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
President Jacob Zuma, had, on behalf of South Africa, championed the AU Heads of State's response in support of the proposal by the African Union Commission for the establishment of ACIR.
According to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa's pledge for resources and capacity was followed by a substantial number of countries taking the floor in pledging their support and readiness to contribute to the initiative.
It was thus adopted by the summit.
The department said the ACIR proposal was in response to the on-going challenges of peace and security that undermine democratically elected governments.
Currently, the African Union does not have such an immediate response mechanism as the process of implementing the African Peace and Security architecture is on-going.
“The proposed ACIR is an interim measure pending the operationalization of the African Standby Force and its rapid deployment capability. The African Capacity is therefore not a new concept but is built on the principles of the African Standby Force.
“This interim measure will further provide African countries with the flexibility to take concrete measures to address the challenges in the interim, whilst allowing the process of operationalizing the African Standby Force to take place,” said the department in a statement on Tuesday.
Zuma said South Africa “volunteers and stands ready to provide support to deal with urgent matters of the continent”. - SAnews.gov.za
