The ALSF was established in 2008, principally in response to challenges facing by African countries, especially Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), fragile states, and post-conflict countries, in dealing with aggressive and intransigent creditors or vulture funds. The need for the Facility was originally proposed by African finance ministers in their board meeting at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in June 2003. Moreover, the Group of Eight (G8) recognized the lawsuits instituted by vulture funds against Regional Member Countries (RMCs) as a threat to the debt relief arrangement agreed in Gleneagles in 2005. At the same time, the ECA supported the calls of its countries’ finance ministers for the rapid establishment of a technical legal assistance facility to help countries deal with issues related to creditor litigation, in particular, to pre-empt and avoid lawsuits, and reform national debt relief laws. In 2008, the ALSF was established by treaty, which entered into force on 22 December, 2008, as an independent and public international institution to support its regional member countries (“RMCs”) in addressing sovereign debt issues and negotiating effective extractives and other complex commercial contracts and to develop their legal capacity in these matters. The inclusion of advisory and capacity building assistance for other complex commercial transactions relating to extractives and natural resources, infrastructure, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), and related commercial agreements was deemed complementary to the sovereign debt mandate, to enable countries derive maximum benefits from such contracts and to avoid entering into contracts that lead to unsustainable debt.