Assembly/AU/Dec.589(XXVI) Page 4 C. On the Specialized Technical Committee on Defense, Safety and Security – Doc. EX.CL/944(XXVI) 18. 18. WELCOMES the conduct of the African Standby Force AMANI AFRICA-II Field Training Exercise (AA-II FTX) held in November 2015 in two (2) locations, namely, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the South African Army Combat Training Centre, Lohatla, South Africa and COMMENDS the Ministers of Defence for ensuring that the Exercise was successful; 19. 19. EXPRESSES APPRECIATION to Member States, the Commission and Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) in conducting the AA-II FTX. In this regard, COMMENDS the progress made by the East African Standby Force (EASF), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in operationalizing their respective standby forces; and ACKNOWLEDGES the efforts of the North Africa Regional Capability (NARC) towards operationalizing its standby force; 20. TAKES NOTE of the Declaration of the 2nd Extraordinary Meeting of the Specialised Technical Committee on Defence, Safety and Security held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 15 January 2016; 21. COMMENDS the following: i) The progress made to date in the operationalization of an African Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL); ii) The efforts undertaken by the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria in setting-up the Headquarters of AFRIPOL; 22. REQUESTS the Commission to take all necessary measures to expeditiously fully operationalize AFRIPOL; 23. DECIDES that the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC), will continue its mandate pending the AMANI AFRICA II Field Training Exercise After Action Review scheduled for Maputo, Mozambique in March 2016 and the Evaluation Mission to be undertaken by the Commission and the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms to the Regional Economic Communities to verify the state of readiness of Regional Standby Forces. 24. REQUESTS the Commission to report through the Executive Council, on progress made in the implementation of this decision to the next ordinary session of the Assembly in July 2016.