REAFFIRMING our commitment to the Solemn Declaration on the Common African Defence and Security Policy adopted in Sirte, Great Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, by the Second Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union held from 27 to 28 February 2004, particularly its Chapter III, paragraph (t) which encourages “the conclusion and ratification of non-aggression pacts between and among African States and the harmonization of such agreements”; | CONVINCED that the African Union is a community of Member States which decided, among other things, to adopt an African Union Non-Aggression and Common Defence Pact in order to deal with threats to peace, security and stability in the continent and to ensure the well being of the African peoples. HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: DEFINITIONS Article 1 In this Pact: a) b) | | || | | l c) “Acts of Subversion” means any act that incites, aggravates or creates dissension within or among Member States with the intention or purpose to destabilize or overthrow the existing regime or political order by, among other means, fomenting racial, religious, linguistic, ethnic and other differences, in a manner inconsistent with the Constitutive Act, the Charter of the United Nations and the Lome Declaration; “African Standby Force” means the African Standby Force (ASF) provided in the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union; “Aggression” means the use, intentionally and knowingly, of armed force or any other hostile act by a State, a group of States, an organization of States or non-State actor(s) or by