Now is the time for the Africa High Command   E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot January 18, 2015   Reuters reports President Mahama as saying that the regional "ECOWAS will seek the support of the African Union (AU) for a military force to fight Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants."   We commend President Mahama for stating the obvious but the thought brings back a better idea that has existed since 1961. It is called the Africa High Command.   Why the AU does not have a standing force to this date is disturbing.    The purpose for a standing army, as stated in President Mahama's request, is obvious.    But the absence of a standing army for Africa to this date invites skepticism about Africa's standing on security and moral imperative issues - particularly those facing our troubled continent.   The Africa High Command (AHC) was Nkrumah’s idea.  For a reward, he was denounced for his "inordinate ambition" and accused of wanting to be the president of all Africa!   Nkrumah, as the then head of the Casablanca Group that existed before the AU, had called for the formation of a continental army to protect the new independent states on the continent.   The idea received a very lukewarm reception then. The perceived notion of "inordinate ambition" was used as an excuse to thwart the formation of the force and to further comfort the aims of those who perceived Nkrumah’s presence and ideas as threats to their ambitions.   The subject was broached again in 1963 and later in 1965, when the OAU held one of its most significant conferences, with Ghana as the host.  Nkrumah again proposed the idea, this time a modified version to ease anxieties.   The force, Nkrumah said, would only intervene when invited by a host state.   The modified version was rejected under the same suspicion of Nkrumah's supposed "inordinate ambition." And the idea became the object of a musical chairs' treatment at AU sessions.    Of course, the opposition to Nkrumah's idea was also amply supported by external powers who for reasons of the hegemony of interests and ideology felt instantly that the idea posed a threat.   As a result, the Africa High Command concept never got off the ground. The lack of political will or the courage to pursue it further is evident today.   But the passage of time and Mahama’s proposal have revealed that the idea was a darn good one.   By the way, this piece is not to uphold a conviction on the notion that "Nkrumah never dies." It is done to point out that good ideas shouldn't.   The naive would kill a good idea, then move on to obscure its validity by linking it to a false premise.  Instead of allowing an idea to stand on its own, they will link it to a corporal body they hate in order to kill the idea.   For more than 50 years, the good idea of the AHC has been lying in limbo. The worse that would desire its activation have happened in areas outside West Africa.  And now the worst is unfolding in Nigeria, close to home.   "Nigeria is taking military action and Cameroon is fighting Boko Haram, but I think we are increasingly getting to the point where probably a regional or a multinational force is coming into consideration," says President Mahama.   Ironically, Nigeria had opposed the AHC concept in 1965, mainly on the grounds of sovereignty.  She would reverse her position in 1970 during the Biafra war.   African armies have been marshaled from time to time to quell such troubles. Nigeria led the ECOMOG  forces during the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia in the 90s.  But that model is not enough.  What is needed is a permanent standing army, which is the idea behind the AHC.   Concerning Nigeria, the Boko Haram strife has a powder keg potential. The religious nature of the conflict invites the metaphor because the fault line between Christians and Muslims is so thin.    Insensitivity from any religious side of the fault line will invite a conflagration.  And the spread of it will be bigger than any seen in the world to date.   It is necessary, therefore, to have an intervention force ready. But the AU has no standing army, hence President Mahama asking for it.  But there could not be a better one than the one proposed under the AHC concept.   The AU has since the proposal of the AHC in 1965 responded to many security issues facing Africa in its usual style by making some changes within its charte, then doing nothing.   Under Article 4(h) of its Constitutive Act, the AU has stated the right of the organization to go after those who commit war crimes, acts of genocide, and crimes against humanity. A framework for the African Standby Force (ASF) was added by 2004. But the Lord's Resistance Army, Boko Haram, and others are still in business.   As beautiful as the ASF formation sounds, it still lacks the bite the African High Command idea has as proposed.   The ASF by its very nature is not a single army. It is a conglomeration of units of regional forces from individual nations.  As such, it still has the sovereignty barrier and is bound to be lacking as a cogent military force.   Africa needs a single coherent standby military force; structured only with the AU as its supreme commander.    The reason for this structure is the necessity of the mission. With all types of miscreants hurrying to take over states or eager to establish enclaves within states, the necessary response will be an army that owes no allegiance to a single state.   And here is where ideas like Nkrumah's AHC proposal matter.   The Economist writes, "The Sahel and parts of East Africa face a range of extreme jihadists. Coastal states have seen piracy soar, most recently in the west. Offshore discoveries of oil and gas have increased the need for maritime security."   These worrisome scenarios require a standing, integrated army to declare openly that our penchant for coups, upheavals and misrule on the continent is over.   On a continent of close to a billion people the AHC can work.   The wherewithal to make it happen is already in place in the national armies and their current budgets. The AHC can be an upgrade for the promotion of a soldier’s pride.  Fitting soldiers would be selected to serve in the AHC for a specific period at bases established by the AU in select points spread over all regions.   While with the AHC, the soldier will only owe allegiance to the AU.  After completion of his rotation with the AHC force, he will return to his base army and country.   AU members will support the AHC with part of their national budgets.  Each will contribute in accordance to population size and economic strength.     It follows that structural changes must happen within standing national armies to allow constant feeding of some material and men to the AHC, in a timely manner to make it a credible standing force.   In return, Africa must honor the AHC soldiers for serving in her highest military institution.  Deserving medals and marks of distinction must be conferred on them after missions.   It is behind ideas like the African High Command that a united Africa can rise in a shorter time - faster than all the assemblies of the AU held in the past 50 years.   E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, January 18, 2015. Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website, email a copy of the web page to publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't publish at all