African Standby Force: Continental Logistics base inaugurated in Douala

Cameroon’s Prime Minister – Head of Government, Philemon Yang has inaugurated the Logistic base of the African Union Standby Force in Douala, Littoral Region.
The Prime Minister while cutting the symbolic ribbon on behalf of the Head of State saluted the strong cooperation ties between the Africa Union and Cameroon.
He saluted the completion of the project which started in 2007 to serve as part of ongoing efforts to achieve the full operational capacity of the African Union Standby force.
He also welcomed the continental structure that will play an essential role in the African Union’s peacekeeping operations in humanitarian or disaster preparedness interventions.
On his part, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security Ambassador, Smail Chergui, was grateful to Cameroon for being in Support of African Union projects one of them being the logistics base of the African Union Stand by force. He announced the eminent arrived of material to equip the facility. He also invited other partners notably UN agencies to give their support to achieve the goal of ensuring peace in Africa through solutions provided by Africans.
The Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo presented the two sides of the base: the one constructed on 15 hectares of land for storage of materials and the other on 10 hectares for coordination and administration.
The event was also marked by the award of certificates and medals of honour to some workers who ensured the base was constructed to its end without hitches. The officials at the ceremony also had a guided tour of the 36 room administrative building.

The structure
The continental logistics base of the African Union Stand by force is located on a two sites in the Littoral regional capital. The main site has the Administrative bloc and it is located in Bonapriso not far from the 201 Air force base of Cameroon’s army. It has an administrative building and warehouses. It is directly linked to the Douala international airport by a taxi way.
On the main site of the structure the administrative building has 30 offices and a meeting room. It is equipped with a close circuit television system for surveillance and for security purposes. It also has a bore hole and a water purification system with a storage capacity of 10 cubic meters. It has electricity generators connected to the public electricity network with an access capacity of 630 KVA.
The second site that covers 15 hectares is located 15km away from the main facility and is located next the camp of the Military Engineering Corps in Douala. It has extended warehouse capacities. The structure has three supporting facilities including the Douala international airport which is the gateway to the Cameroon by air. The airport that serves all destinations, has a space of 4416 square meters dedicated to the treatment of freight and a management capacity of 5000 tones.
The second supporting facility is the Douala seaport, located some three kilometres from the Continental logistic base. It offers deep-sea access from maritime transport.
The third is tarred road corridor that extends to Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon, Nigeria and Congo.

Missions
The African Union Continental Logistics Base in Douala will provide access to equipments and materials required for rapid deployment within the African Union for operations.
The warehouse with stock of equipment will serve the African Standby Force (ASF) headquarters, other standby forces, the police headquarters, the sector headquarters and observer team sites. It was also supply support logistics for AU strategic headquarters. It will also stock and provide equipments for humanitarian action and natural disaster support.
The structure which has seen the light of day in Douala is the fruit of a long period of negotiations with the African Union that started in 2007 and a memorandum of understanding was signed on 12th October 2015.
The African Standby Force is an international, continental and multidisciplinary peacekeeping force with military, police and civilian contingents that acts under the direction of the African Union.
The headquarters of the force is in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia while Douala in Cameroon hosts the African Union’s Continental Logistics Base (LOGBASE).
During the implementation of project Cameroon exceed its initial commitments is exceeded and carried out additional work for very high sums at the request of the AU Commission and on the instruction of the Head of State.

Elvis Teke

Laisser un commentaire

Votre adresse e-mail ne sera pas publiée. Les champs obligatoires sont indiqués avec *