The stand-by brigades are supposed to be Africa's answer to its apparently endless cycle of coups and civil wars. The aim is to provide the African Union with an ability to deploy troops rapidly to an emergency, to stamp out the kind of conflicts that have so disfigured Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo, Somalia, and the rest. They would be a replacement for the United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces now scattered across Africa, holding fragile states together.

But the African stand-by brigades are critically deficient in two areas: one of these is training."

"Martin Plaut, BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut, taking a look at Washington's little discussed military relationship with the African continent.

Nana Akyea's appropriate response:

On the question of training, I prefer that you see this before we open discussions!