The ECOWAS Commission has held a virtual workshop on modalities for implementing the Silencing the Guns Agenda in West Africa, a flagship programme of the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 in Abuja.
The workshop was organized through the ECOWAS Directorate of Political Affairs in collaboration with the African Union Commission’s Silencing the Guns Unit.
The objective of the workshop was to further discussions on an ECOWAS strategy and approach for the regionalization of the Silencing the Guns Agenda.
The Silencing the Guns workshop is supported by the GIZ EPSAO Project which is co-funded by the European Union, in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Head of Programmes of GIZ ECOWAS Peace and Security Architecture and Operations (EPSAO) Project, Yvonne Akpasom, emphasized the meeting as highly relevant to the increase in cooperation and synergy in addressing conflict at its roots in the sub-region.
It is also to develop robust response approaches and mechanisms to eliminating the use of guns destructively in the sub-region.
Head of Division, Mediation and Coordination of Regional Political Affairs, Dr. Onyinye Onwuka stressed the important role accorded the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms in the operationalization of this agenda by the African Union.
The collaboration with the AU Commission serves an opportunity for streamlining of approaches around the Master Roadmap.
Special Advisor on Silencing the Guns to the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Osman Keh Kamara, congratulated the ECOWAS Commission on the initiative taken to further work on this agenda, the mandate of which was extended by the AU Heads of State and Governments until 2030.
He said the AU Commission will prioritize cooperation with the RECs/RMs to ensure further cascading of efforts to support member states in the development of their action plans for the Silencing the Guns Roadmap.
