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Africa: North
Cairo wants to be seat of North African force
2005-11-22
Hat tip Orrin Judd.
TRIPOLI, Libya -- Egypt is proposing Cairo as the seat and administrative base of a North African force agreed upon at a recent meeting by army chiefs of five countries. Egyptian Assistant Minister of Defense Maj. Gen. Mamdouh Abdel Hak made the proposal at a two-day meeting in Libya by the chiefs of staff of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and the Republic of Western Sahara.

The five North African states agreed to set up a "Standby African Force" in line with the resolutions of the African Union. Egypt went further, proposing to place "its military training facilities at the disposal of the force within the framework of peacekeeping in the area," Abdel Hak was quoted as saying.
"We want it under our thumb at all times!"
The joint force will be operating under the supervision of the Council for Peace and Security of the African Union. The chiefs of staff who signed a memorandum of understanding defined the objectives of the joint force as keeping peace and security in their area and depending entirely on African resources in the fields of defense and security.

There was no information about the size or armament of the force that will include in its structure an executive secretariat, a department for planning, a general command, and two administrative bases.
Everything you need for a military command. Except soldiers. And equipment. And logistics. And intel. But they got everything else, by gum!
According to a strategy adopted by the African Union to build a united Africa by 2030, the organization divided the black continent into five provinces -- the north, south, east, west and center. Each province was entrusted with the mission of setting up a joint force in accordance with the bylaws of the Union's Council for Peace and Security.

The various provincial standby forces will have permission to interfere at any time to settle conflicts between states as well as internal conflicts. According to the Council's bylaws, the forces will interfere only if the committee of arbitrators affiliated with the Council fails to settle conflicts.

Libyan Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Ahmed Aoun underscored the need to boost collective action for achieving the aspired objectives of the African Union. He noted that "a main objective of the force is to ensure a permanent stability and security for the present leaders of the countries involved. "The issue of security was and still is a priority at the national, regional and continental levels and the aim is to make the African continent a region of peace and stability, free from pressures and threats," Aoun was quoted as saying. "We still have a great deal of serious and continued work ahead which necessitates absolute commitment to our goals and aspirations," he said.
Like, for example, build something.
Posted by:Steve White

#7  yeah, tourism is less and less with every attack.

"See the Pyramids! Pay with your life, Infidel!"
Posted by: Frank G   2005-11-22 19:51  

#6   an executive secretariat, a department for planning, a general command, and two administrative bases

"Command a desk and you can be
The General of all Araby...."
Posted by: Gilbert & Sullivan   2005-11-22 19:01  

#5  Didn't some of those stranded merchant ships in the canal maintain a 2 or 3 man crew for the duration? I guess for security or so they weren't deemed to be abandoned. Some weird stories.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-11-22 13:12  

#4  (a) threaten the closure of the Suez
Tolls for transit thru Suez are a major source of income for the government, threaten away.

(b) threaten Israel.
SEE: 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973
Posted by: Steve   2005-11-22 11:54  

#3  Egypt is strategically located to (a) threaten the closure of the Suez (b) threaten Israel. They will not say so but these thoughts will be on everyones mind when they decide.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2005-11-22 10:20  

#2  More and more in the Middle East, and due in large part to the help of the US, and democratization, I am seeing what could be called a "proto-union"--not on the model of the old Ottoman empire, but more like the EU or the FTAA.

These countries are realizing that there could be tremendous value to them in an economic, if not political, union. In this case, military cooperation is a different type of one of these formative "proto-unions".

This particular association is especially important, as it is sort of the western branch of how such a union would be formed. The nexus of such a common market would most likely be with Iraq and possibly Turkey, with the Emirates, Arabia, Yemen, Oman, etc., joining over the course of many years, as they too had democratized and liberalized.

Not ironically, the character of such a union would almost have to be secular. Various religions and sects fighting among themselves just wouldn't be good for business.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-11-22 09:52  

#1  All things considered, in a decade or two the south side of the Mediterranian could very well take on the north side in a war.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2005-11-22 09:30  

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