The African Standby Force: External Support to an 'African Solution to African Problems'?

I have always been fascinated by the African Standby Force/ASF/ project, though often dismayed by the slow progress to operationalize it. I commented, at least twice, in public lectures that 'the ASF could remain standby for ever as its name implies' to the great discomfort of some political leaders. The problem is more political as it is technical. And frankly, I believe there is no ownership of any process, political or otherwise, without some degree of financial commitment, however significant the amount may be. Still, one cannot overemphasize enough the need for the ASF, particularly looking at developments in Libya. Given the number of articles on this topic posted at this particular site it is both timely and relevant to look at the abstract of the report by Olaf Bachmann(an IDS publication) on the ASF.