Cairo, Egypt - CCCPA today began a five-day training course for Military Observers of the North African Regional Capability (NARC) of the African Standby Force (ASF). A total of 19 trainees are attending the training.

The training course is part of CCCPA’s training activities in its capacity and responsibility as an African Union Center of Excellence in training, mandated to provide trainings for the NARC. A series of five trainings will be implemented till the end of the year, targeting civilian, police and military personnel.

NARC was created as a regional capability to enable North African countries to contribute to the building-up process and operationalization of the ASF, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2015. In addition to NARC, the ASF consists of four other Regional Standby Capabilities: the East African Standby Force (EASF); the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF); the SADC Standby Force (SSF), and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS Standby Force or FOMAC).