Abstract
The African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC) was setup in 2013 as a direct consequence of the inability of the West African states to timely intervene in the crisis in Mali, which led to a French led military intervention. This was politically seen as a heavy blow to the whole idea of “African solutions to African Problems” and exposed the African Unions (AU) inability to react and deploy effective tools when needed. This happened despite the fact that the AU since 2002 had been trying to establish and set-up regionally based standby military capabilities. The inaction prompted a group of African leaders to set up the ACIRC as a rapid reaction force, directly under the AU, and detached from the regional policies and considerations. However, the ACIRC was from outset seen as a controversial institution, which a number of African leaders believed would be undermining the African Standby Force (ASF) concept. This group have tried to get the ACIRC closed down. The compromise has so far been that it will have the status of an interim force until the ASF has reached full operational capability (FOC). But what is the ACIRC, will it undermine the FOC of the ASF, and why does dominant African state like South Africa, Uganda, Senegal and Angola support the ACIRC concept?