ACCORD in its capacity as the current Chair of the African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA) attended a two-day meetings at the AU PSOD and further two-day meetings in Yaounde, Cameroon with officials of the APSTA Secretariat, the officials of the outgoing and local Member Institution and government officials. The meetings in Addis Ababa aimed at identifying and agreeing with PSOD on the 2019 Work Plan for the association, finalising on the Norwegian funding offer for the operations of the APSTA secretariat and the need to have the AUC leadership appraised of the support that APSTA provides for the enhancement of the operational capacity of the African Standby Force (ASF).
The meetings in Yaounde focused on assessing the progress achieved in the establishment of the Secretariat premises offered by the government of Cameroon, the opening of an APSTA bank account, the processing and receipt of the funds offered by the government of Cameroon for the operations of the APSTA including the initiation of the recruitment of the key staff members of the secretariat required for the secretariat.
Significant progress was achieved by the visits as it was evident that the provisions of the Resolutions of the AGM of October 2018 were under implementation despite there being a few issues that still needed further attention by the government of Cameroon. APSTA will commence its operations soon after the board meeting that has to sit before 15th April 2019 to assess and decide on the way forward in relation to the tasks assigned to the transition team. The coming board meeting will approve the 2019 Work Plan and articulate the way forward for the Secretariat.
Participation in activities that focus on peace operations training, is in line with ACCORD/TfP Programme’s strategic goal of supporting efforts at strengthening the AUC, RECs/RMs and member states capability to plan, manage and implement PSOs on the continent through the enhancement of the ASF capacities. Membership to APSTA also seeks to enhance ACCORD’s capacity to contribute to improved sustainable capacity for the conduct of peace operations on the continent through ensuring effective peacekeeper behaviour, positive conduct and discipline, planning, management and execution of mission tasks that improve the overall operational capability and functioning of organizational systems in the UN/AU/RECs/RMs, member states and mission structures.
