Paper short abstract:

The military operations led in the HOA are not all peace keeping operations. They also are based on national commitments within the framework of the protection of the vital interests. The future of the African Stand-By Forces will have to take into account national and continental strategies.

Paper long abstract:

The African Architecture of Peace and Security was born approximately one decade ago with as ambition the elaboration of the African regional organizations in peacekeeping operations (chapter 8 of the UN Charter). It resulted in the implementation of the concept of the African Stand-By Forces based on regional brigades supposed to be operational in 2015.

On the theater of the Horn of Africa, the greatest zone of instability of the continent, the influential States of the region, have been participating in peacekeeping operations. Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia are contributors of the AMISOM, the MINUAD, the MINUSS, the FISNUA, the Initiative of regional cooperation against the Lord's Resistance Army.

Beyond the involment in the missions of the African Union, the national armed forces have to ensure kingly missions in particular the national sovereignty (protection of the borders) and the defense of the vital interests. As underlined by the Kenyan operation "Linda Nchi" and both Ethiopian interventions in Somalia, the employment of the Armies remains subordinated to the political power and which mitigate the lack of reactivity of a regional structure or its blockings.

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