Silencing of the Guns and End Wars in Africa by the Year 2020

Aim

AU Member States have adopted “Silencing the Guns in Africa: creating conducive conditions for development” as the theme of the year 2020.

Progress to-date

• The AU High Representative (AUHR) continued his mobilisation efforts to elicit the contribution of stakeholders for the implementation of the AU Master Roadmap for Silencing the Guns.

• Following the adoption of the UNSC Resolution 2457 on Silencing the Guns under the chairmanship of Equatorial Guinea in February, the UN Secretary-General established a UN task force to mobilise UN-wide support for the implementation of the Silencing the Guns Roadmap and the AUC Action Plan. The task force has had several technical planning meetings with the Silencing the Guns Unit, as well as bilateral meetings with specific UN agencies to identify key areas of support. These include, amongst others, disarmament, women and youth in peace and security, counterterrorism, peacebuilding and conflict prevention.

• African Members to the UN Security Council are making efforts to promote the Silencing the Guns agenda on the international forum.

Challenges

• Inadequate financial and human resources to implement the project;

• There is little visibility on Member States programmes for effective implementation of the theme of the year and the AU master roadmap.

Next Steps

• Undertake resource mobilisation for project implementation;

• Provide technical support to Member States to prepare National Action Plans for Silencing the Guns;

• Strengthen coordination platforms and enhance M&E mechanisms to assist in managing and reporting on the progress of implementation at various high-level platforms, including the AU Summit.