As Africa commemorate Africa Day 2020, Silencing the Guns remains top priority

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As the African continent is set to commemorate the Africa Day 2020, Monday Silencing the Guns remains a top priority of the continent hence the need for more efforts by African governments to commit to tangible action on silencing the guns so as to end violent conflicts on the continent.

Every year on May 25, African states and Africans around the world celebrate the annual occasion of Africa Day, which marks the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU) in 1963. The AU comprises of 55 member states of the African continent who had come together to collectively address their common challenges namely; armed conflicts, climate change and poverty.

The commemoration present an avenue to celebrate landmark achievements of the Union across various issues such as peace and security, continental integration, women and youth empowerment, eradication of diseases; it is also an opportunity to reflect on the Union’s transformation and achievements as well as renew commitments to realize the Africa We Want as embedded in Agenda 2063.

The annual commemoration is based on the AU theme for each year; the 2020 theme is “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development” – 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 preventing genocide in Africa, by 2020.

“Giving a theme to the year 2020 is merely the beginning. The urgency in implementing the priorities we have decided upon, requires that we harness and concentrate all possible efforts,” notes H.E Ramtane Lamamra, the AU High Representative for Silencing the Guns, who is leading efforts to fast-track the campaign to silence the guns on the continent.

Lamamra described the goal of achieving peace on the continent as a shared responsibility of African governments, regional institutions, partners, private sector, youth, women and other groups adding that peace could only be attained through tolerance, conflict resolution and prevention, which reflects the goal of Silencing the Guns campaign.