33rd AU summit focuses on ‘Silencing the Guns in Africa’

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The 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union will be taking place on select dates that fall between January 21  and  February 10, under the AU’s theme for 2020: “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.”

The Summit which is scheduled to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will feature the 39th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC) holding January 21 – 22, followed by the 36th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council (Ministerial) holding February 6 – 7 and finally the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, holding February 9 – 10.

Silencing the Guns in Africa is an AU campaign aimed at realising a conflict-free continent by ending all wars, civil conflicts, Gender-Based Violence (GBV), human rights violations as well as the preventing genocide in Africa, by 2020. It is one of the flagship projects under Agenda 2063, whose Aspiration 4 seeks for a peaceful and secure Africa. The AU recognises violent conflicts as one of Africa’s major challenges cum greatest impediments to achieving Agenda 2063.

“African leaders have come to realise that very little of their ambitious project for Africa [Agenda 2063] will be actually accomplished if they don’t succeed in Silencing The Guns…As far as inter-state conflicts are concerned, there is very little of it left now in Africa. What is left now in Africa is a kind of domestic conflicts synonymous with evolving nations; next to it is you will find terrorists taking advantage of the lack of security and lack of stability to destabilise them,” said Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, the AU’s High Representative on Silencing The Guns in Africa.

The AU has made significant progress in detecting, preventing and addressing violent interstate and intrastate conflicts  through its Peace and Security Council (PSC), which is the decision-making organ of the AU for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, as part of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) – the framework for promoting peace, security and stability in Africa. However, there are still pockets of on-going mostly intra-state conflicts across the continent, which will be difficult, if not entirely impossible to end, by 2020.