How NATO contributes to stabilize Africa

NATO has been providing expert and training support to the African Stabilization Force (ASF) at the African Union (AU) request. Not only does it offer capacity-building support through courses and training events, but it also organizes different forms of support to improve the operational capacity of the ASF.
The ASF, which is intended to be deployed in Africa in times of crisis, is part of the AU’s efforts to develop long-term peacekeeping capabilities. This continental force could be seen as an African contribution to wider international efforts to preserve peace and security.
Expert support - On 5 September 2007, as part of NATO’s capacity-building support to the AU, the North Atlantic Council agreed to provide assistance to the AU with a study on the assessment of the operational readiness of the African Standby Force (ASF) brigades.
In addition to this initial support and at the request of the African Union, NATO has also assisted with the translation from English into Portuguese of African Standby Force documentation.
Training support- NATO has also provided specific training packages to the ASF, since 2009, in the NATO School in Oberammergau where has been hosting AU staff officers, who attend various courses, including operational planning discipline.
Joint Command Lisbon – the designated NATO HQ to implement the Alliance’s practical cooperation with the AU – has also organized certification/ evaluation training programmes for AU staff and provided military experts to assist in the evaluation and lessons learned procedures of the exercise.
At the AU’s request, NATO has also participated and supported various ASF preparatory workshops designed to develop ASF-related concepts.
NATO is also a member of the G8++ forum which brings together the group of partners supporting the AU in the area of peace and security. It includes international organizations and individual countries.

General Assembly Suspends Libya from Human Rights Council

In an unprecedented move on 1st of March, the United Nations General Assembly suspended Libya’s membership in the Human Rights Council, the Organization’s pre-eminent human rights body, expressing its deep concern about the situation in that country in the wake of Muammar Al-Qadhafi’s violent crackdown on anti-Government protestors.
Adopting a consensus resolution, the Assembly acted on the 25 February recommendation by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, which had urged the suspension in a resolution of its own. The Assembly, which created the Council five years ago, was charged with taking that action. The decision marked the first time a sitting member was removed from the body. The Assembly also agreed that it would “review the matter as appropriate”.
“The world has spoken with one voice: we demand an immediate end to the violence against civilians and full respect for their fundamental human rights, including those of peaceful assembly and free speech,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his address to the Assembly. He welcomed the recommendation of the Human Rights Council to suspend Libya’s membership “so long as the violence continued”, he added.
Mr. Ban also commended the Security Council’s decision over the weekend to refer the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court, and called for the urgent dispatching of an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations of international human rights in the country, in line with the Human Rights Council’s recommendation.