NATO to Support African Union Standby Force(Page three) 24 September, 2008

Story: Michael Donkor
THE Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, has announced the organisation’s readiness to support the African Standby Force (ASF).
To that end, he said NATO was in close contact with the African Union (AU) and was ready to offer advice and assistance.
Mr Scheffer said this when he interacted with some senior military officials at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra on Thursday.
Mr Scheffer, who is in Ghana at the invitation of President John Agyekum Kufuor, said about two months ago, at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, he had met with President Kikwete, the Chairman of the African Union, to discuss how to take the NATO-AU relationship forward.
He said NATO’s 26-member countries had already consented to the move to support the ASF.
He said since the start of the AU Mission in the Sudan in June 2005, NATO had provided airlift support for some 31,000 troops and personnel, including almost 600 soldiers, military observers and policemen from Ghana.
He noted that that was truly the start of a new relationship between the AU and NATO.
Mr Scheffer said the military alliance could play an important role in training African soldiers to provide solutions to conflicts on the continent.
He ruled out a direct role for the alliance's troops in Africa and added that it was not in NATO's domain to police the world.
"NATO is not a global policeman and we do not intend to turn the organisation into that," he added.
Mr Scheffer gave the assurance that NATO would make its unique capabilities and expertise available to the wider international community and work with other nations and organisations in a comprehensive approach to come to terms with challenges which affected the world.