The STCDSS in its 2nd Extra-Ordinary Meeting held on 15 January 2016 again “stressed on the need for the AU Commission and the RECs/RMs to verify the ASF pledged capabilities and conduct an assessment of all the ASF PLANELMs”. Based on this the AU PSC in its 677th meeting held on 6 April 2017 directed the AU Commission to do a verification of the ASF and its capabilities. Subsequently, the Commission has constituted an ASF Verification Confirmation and Validation Team (VCVT) consisting of independent experts.

The Team will be led by Prof Ibrahim Gambari. ISS has been asked to make Riana Paneras available as the Independent Police Expert based on her “…wide experience as a police expert in the Peace Support Operations field…”. It is indeed a feather in the cap of and ISS staff member to be selected to be part of this high level team. In addition, Annette Leijenaar was requested to be part of a small team to prepare all related documents as well as to review the final Report.

In accordance with the Draft Guidelines on Generic Verification of ASF Pledged Capabilities, (GVPC), RECs/RMs will conduct Generic Self Verification (GSV) of pledged capabilities in their regions, submit a status report to AU PSC and declare operational readiness. This will be followed by the Generic Verification Confirmation and Validation process to be conducted by the independent team, supported by the AIC. The findings of the verification and validation exercise will have a direct impact on the “Revision of the ASF Doctrine” and/or development of an “AU PSO Doctrine”, for which ISS has been requested to take the lead.