About 1500 South African troops are in training to be deployed to the continent's hot spots as part of an African rapid response force.
In a departure from the mandates of the many peacekeeping missions this country has been involved in, the new force - the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises - will be authorised to use lethal force in conflicts to which it is deployed by the African Union.
It is not inconceivable that the rapid response force, a precursor to the long-awaited African Standby Force, could find itself fighting Islamist extremists in countries such as Somalia, Mali and Nigeria.
At least nine African nations - among them, Algeria, Angola, Uganda, Tanzania, Niger, Chad and Senegal - have committed troops and equipment to the force.
The rationale for a rapid response capability makes sense: lives can be saved and genocide averted if timely, effective action is taken in conflict zones.
For too long Africa has been forced by the inadequacy of its resources to stand by while the West intervenes in our crises. The US-led air campaign which helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and the French intervention in Mali last year to prevent that country being overrun by Islamists, are but two examples.
South Africa also gleaned precious experience - and possibly even a template for the rapid response force - from its participation in the three-nation stability brigade that brought peace last year to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
But military intervention can never be undertaken lightly, or unilaterally, particularly in a country such as Somalia, where al-Shabab is engaged in a raging insurgency against a government that exists in name only.
Kenya's participation in the AU military campaign in Somalia triggered reprisals in the form of terror attacks in Kenya.
It could be argued that the attacks were going to happen anyway - such is the nature of terror - but they underline the point that the AU and South Africa need to tread extremely carefully.
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