DECISION ON THE INAUGURAL REPORT OF THE PEACE AND SECURITY
COUNCIL OF THE AFRICAN UNION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
AFRICAN UNION MASTER ROADMAP OF PRACTICAL STEPS
FOR SILENCING THE GUNS IN AFRICA BY THE YEAR 2020
Doc. Assembly/AU/5(XXIX)
The Assembly,
RECALLS its Organization of African Unity/ African Union (OAU/AU) 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration adopted on 25 May 2013, in which it pledged not to bequeath the burden of wars to the next generation of Africans and undertook to end all wars in Africa by the year 2020, as well as Assembly decision Assembly/AU/Dec.630 (XXVIII) by which the 28th ordinary session of the Assembly of the Union, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 30 - 31 January 2017 adopted the AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps for Silencing the Guns in Africa by the Year 2020;
EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN over the scourge of illegal weapons/arms, their illicit proliferation and use in various parts of Africa, where they cause countless deaths, untold suffering, population displacement, disruption of livelihoods, destruction of infrastructure and disruption of economic activities, which all combine to undermine efforts to realize the maiden goal of creating a conflict-free, integrated and prosperous Africa, as envisioned in Agenda 2063. FURTHER EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN over the scourge of illicit financial flows and trade in illicit goods;
COMMENDS
the Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the work it has done as reflected in its Inaugural Report on the implementation of the AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps for Silencing the Guns in Africa by the Year 2020, and ENCOURAGES it to continue mobilizing support from all concerned stakeholders within the continent and beyond for sustained implementation of the AU Master Roadmap;
all Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (RECs/RMs), as well as civil society organizations, in collaboration with the AU Commission for their efforts in implementing the AU Master Roadmap.
APPEALS to all AU Member States and RECs/RMs to redouble efforts in further strengthening their governance institutions, as part of the continental mobilization to ensure strong response to illicit weapons, their proliferation and use in the continent, as well as to illicit financial flows, production of dangerous drugs, as well as trade in illicit goods and illegal exploitation of natural resources;
CALLS ON all AU Member States and RECs/RMs to further strengthen their oversight and accountability mechanisms, including reinforcing legislative, operational and regulatory frameworks between countries and regions within the continent. FURTHER CALLS ON AU Member States and RECs/RMs to enhance cooperation towards effective regulations and controls to prevent the diversion or re-export of weapons/arms;
STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE of promoting and supporting the involvement of youths and women in addressing the problem of proliferation and use of illegal weapons, as well as movement of illegal weapons and other illicit goods. In this respect, UNDERSCORES the need to establish regional research institutions where they do not exist, considering that sound analytical and empirical research on weapons/arms proliferation will better equip the leadership with adequate information to facilitate decision making;
EMPHASIZES THE NEED to address root causes of conflicts, as well as undertaking effective security sector reform and disarmament, demobilization and re-integration programmes in countries emerging from conflict, in order to avoid relapse and fresh exposure to inflow of illegal weapons and violence, as well as to trafficking of other illicit goods;
REQUESTS the Commission, as also requested by the PSC in its Press Statement [PSC/PR/BR.(CDXXX)] of its 430th meeting held on 24 April 2014, to submit and present to the PSC, the outcomes of the continent-wide mapping exercise which was launched in early 2017, with a view to generating concrete data on patterns and trends in illegal weapons and ammunition inflows and cross- border flows, diversion and circulation, as well as gaps in control measures in Member States, in order to strengthen AU remedial efforts;
DECLARES the month of September, of each year till 2020, as “Africa Amnesty Month” for the surrender and collection of illegally owned weapons/arms, in line with the African and international best practices. In this context, PRONOUNCES as follows:
persons who surrender their illegally owned weapons/arms shall not be subjected to disclosure humiliation, arrest or prosecution;
persons who fail to surrender their illegally owned weapons/arms beyond the Africa Amnesty month, shall automatically be considered to be in violation of national laws and the Amnesty and shall therefore be prosecuted according to the national laws of the Member States;
all Member States, RECs/RMs as well as civil society organizations shall give wide publicity, through all media networks, to the Africa Amnesty Month within their territories and regions; and
requests Member States to adhere to and promote the Africa Amnesty Month, September each year, and mobilize their citizens to actively participate in the efforts to silence the guns.
ACKNOWLEDGES that as part of the efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and practices throughout the continent, political will and commitment is a fundamental necessity for success in silencing the guns. In this regard, URGES Member States, for those that have not yet done so, to submit their state reports on their implementation of the provisions of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG); Furthermore, COMMENDS the Togolese Republic, as the only country to have submitted its state report on the implementation of the ACDEG;
URGES Member States to enhance civil-military collaboration through communitybased intelligence gathering, notably through Nouakchott and Djibouti process, to support national security agencies’ efforts in curbing cross border movement of illegal weapons and also movement of such weapons from one conflict to another or to zones that are peaceful, in the continent as a whole;
REQUESTS the AU Member States to communicate to the AU Commission on their efforts in implementing the AU Master Roadmap, once a year, after the Africa Amnesty Month and before the AU January Summit, in order to facilitate continuous assessment of its implementation, as well as sharing information and experience;
URGES AU Member States to demonstrate more commitment and to continue mobilizing for the signing and ratification of the OAU/AU treaties/instruments, as well as their implementation, in particular the signing and ratification of instruments that are essential for the full and effective implementation of the AU Master Roadmap. In this context and considering the outcomes of the study conducted in 2008, as well as the reasons provided by Member States on the non-signature, non-ratification and non-implementation of the treaties/agreements, REQUESTS the AU Commission to convene a meeting of experts of AU Member States to review the OAU/AU treaty making process and make recommendations that will be submitted for consideration by the relevant AU policy organs in the course of 2017. In this regard, a report of the outcome of this process should be submitted to the ordinary session of the Assembly of the Union in January 2018;
ENCOURAGES AU Member States to speed up signing and ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty adopted the UN General Assembly on 2 April 2013, which has the potential to play an important role in silencing the guns in Africa;
CALLS ON AU partners to adhere and fully support the implementation of the AU Master Roadmap.