Establishing the Full Operational Capability of the East African Standby Force: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

In December 2014, countries contributing to the East African Standby Force (EASF) conducted the last exercise to test the validity of the functioning of the force. The exercise heralded the full operationalisation of the force. This article discusses the attainment of full operational capability (FOC) of the EASF, one year before the full operationalisation of the African Standby Force. The main conclusion is that whilst the attainment of FOC of the force should be celebrated with the member states actually validating their troops and equipment contributions, there are outstanding challenges including ongoing crises in the region and lack of resources among others that it must overcome before it can actually be deployed in a conflict situation.