In 2013, African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government adopted the 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration on Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance where leaders pledged not to bequeath the burden of conflict to the next generation. Member States committed to make peace a reality for all Africans, to rid the continent of wars, civil conflicts, human rights violations, humanitarian crises and forced displacement and to prevent genocide. These efforts are also grounded in the commitment of African leaders as espoused in the Constitutive Act of the AU. The Act enjoins the Member States to coordinate and intensify their cooperation, unity, cohesion, and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa. More specifically, the Act calls for the protection and promotion of human and peoples’ rights, consolidation of democratic governance and the rule of law, as well as the promotion of social justice to ensure balanced economic development.

To give these pledges impetus, the African Union Agenda 2063 made sure Aspirations 3 and 4 reflect this commitment. The Union further indoctrinated issues of democratic governance and peace through two important architectures that take these aspirations forward. The African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) both specifically dovetail to specific modalities based on the commitment made by the African Union Member States.

Despite the encouraging developments, violent conflict remains at the heart of tragedy in Africa with more than one third of all conflict in the world taking place in Sub-Saharan Africa (36%). This year is no different, the continent has witnessed a continuation of violent conflicts despite the COVID-19 global pandemic and calls by different actors for a cease fire. Violent conflicts in Africa have claimed countless lives and destroyed immense resources, while rolling back decades of development progress. It is becoming more apparent that if sustainable efforts are not in place to address Africa’s peace and security challenges, the success of Africa’s 50 year aspirations as well as Global Sustainable Development goals are likely to be compromised.

Understanding the drivers of conflict as well as fragility is a critical starting point in providing appropriate responses that can effectively prevent, manage or resolve violent conflicts in Africa.

A three pronged root causes of conflict can be laid out as structural drivers of conflict – Developmental deficit, Democratic governance deficit and Peace deficit. The lack of socio-economic equality and poverty accentuate violent conflicts manifesting through popular and violent protests. Cognizant of developmental and peace deficits as an important piece to the puzzle, a focus will be made on the importance of addressing democratic governance deficits as it takes the lion’s share of structural root causes of violent conflicts. Deficit in democratic governance has hindered development, compromised sustainable peace and has been at the core of Africa’s violent conflicts. The lack of good governance, rampant corruption, impunity, electoral violence, unconstitutional changes of government, lack of political commitment, human rights violations, disregard for the rule of law and justice, inequality, exclusion, lack of citizen’s participation and diversity mismanagement can be mentioned as a few of physiognomies of a deficit in democratic governance.

Effective democratic governance can be characterized by strong institutions and responsive governance systems that facilitate positive state-society relationships by providing independent and reliable channels between citizens and their government. Political Parties, independent electoral bodies, independent judiciary and strong civil society all play an important role to contribute to democratic governance processes that maintain the social contract and enhance trust between society and government. Effective democratic governance resolves issues of growing discontent, dwindling public trust in democratic institutions and addresses issues of inclusiveness and cohesion in addition to bringing equitable share of dividends of democracy. Building sustainable peace in Africa requires a paradigm shift, from addressing symptoms of violent conflict to addressing root causes of these conflicts by focusing on building a reliable, renewed, formidable and most importantly resilient democratic governance systems.

In the realisation of the significant importance of democratic governance as bedrock for Silencing the Guns, the African Union during its 34th Assembly of Heads of State and Government held in July 2019 in Niamey, Niger declared the theme of 2020 as “ Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development”. Through various activities and initiatives within the context of the theme of the year, the AU aims to rally various segments of the African society including AU Organs, Institutions, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Member States; Civil Society Organisations, as well as citizens including youth, women and media to highlight the urgent need to address deficits of democratic governance on the continent as a sustainable path to Silencing the Guns and ultimately creating a prosperous and peaceful Africa.

Post-independence, African countries have recorded considerable strides in democratization and have achieved relative peace. Intrinsic and instrumental values of democracy have been witnessed, considering that beyond creating credible and transparent and strong democratic institutions, a relative realization of socio-economic rights has been achieved. Notwithstanding the positive development, the peace and security landscape is still marked by conflict. In fact, the trends in violent conflicts have changed over the years, as research indicates that violence in Africa have moved from coups to election violence, from battles to violent and popular uprisings, rebellions, service delivery protests, violent extremism and inter-communal violence. Adding fuel to the fire, COVID-19 has also shocked the world and has posed significant challenges, crippling nations’ systems and institutions. It has also exposed the once invisible, layered and cross-sectional democratic governance challenges by magnifying it for the bare eyes. It has exacerbated inequalities, created rampant COVID-19 corruption and has tested humanity to its limits.

It is not all doom and gloom, however. On the bright side, COVID-19 has increased compassion and camaraderie among African Nations in their fight for debt cancelation, spiked the learning curve, promoted digitalization and triggered the need to think outside of the box. This has ushered in a breadth of innovative ideas, promoting flexibility and adaptation in all aspects of life. Alas, the continent still remains with a colossal responsibility of turning the tide of violent conflicts across the continent amid a pandemic. Addressing conflict in Africa should be a key priority, however, solving it, as the year 2020 demonstrated, requires a significant shift in mind-set, multi-dimensionality in an approach coupled with a candid interrogation of the existing situation and pivoting to a more holistic and sustainable solution.

Silencing the guns can only be achieved by silencing several ills of the continent, and starting with addressing issues of democratic governance as drivers of conflict can take us far. It is imperative to invest in capable democratic governance institutions that are resilient, efficient, effective and inclusive by making targeted as well as intentional investments. Furthermore, a democratic culture that fosters learning, adaptation and flexibility must be built to create effective democratic institutions that can deliver on inclusive development and sustained peace. This should be done in cooperation with national, regional and international institutions towards effectively catching up with a fast changing world.

Addressing these issues is therefore at the core of the continental aspiration of not bequeathing a conflict rigged continent to the next generation. It is in that line that the 9th High Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human rights and Governance in Africa: Trends, Challenges and Prospect is organized. It is envisioned that the High level dialogue will provide a space to take stock of our past, identify challenges and opportunities, assess our current state and most importantly strategize for our future.

The Dialogue will focus on the five sub-thematic areas,

 THE PAST- Assessing the state of democracy and governance as a structural and proximate driver of conflict. The continental, regional and national trends of violent conflicts are scanned along with an assessment of political, social and economic impact of violent conflicts in Africa.

 THE NOW - Addressing issues of creating a resilient democratic governance that can withstand pressures and remain relevant in a fast changing world. Issues of Adaptability, Innovation, flexibility, taking advantage of technology and recovery will be addressed in this sub thematic area.

 THE FUTURE: The future will take advantage of Foresight research to enumerate the steps that need to be taken towards Silencing the Guns.

Gender Pre-Forum. “Magnifying Women’s Role in Conflict Prevention and Silencing the Guns.”

The dividend of conflict is despair, inflicting everlasting suffering on humanity particularly the vulnerable, women, girls, children, the disabled and the elderly. At the bottom of the barrel, women bear the biggest burden of violent conflicts in Africa with women targeted to be used as weapons of war through rape, abductions, forced pregnancies and sexual slavery. Evidence has shown that women have also been systematically excluded from participation in or leading cultural, political, social and economic aspects of democratic governance. Women can bring about change and positive impact on conflict prevention. Women are not only victims but are incredible leaders, peacemakers, negotiators and mediators with capabilities in de-escalating violence and preventing conflict before it happens.

Gender equality and meaningful engagement of women is imperative in strengthening democratic governance which is central to achieving sustainable development and peace in Africa. Women need to take a central stage in decision making, institutional building and leadership which is crucial in bringing to the fore the capabilities of women to create and sustain everlasting peace in the continent. More specifically, women’s role in breaking the cycle of conflict through highlighting their engagement in structural prevention of conflict, conflict management and post-conflict reconstruction will need to be streamlined as a significant contribution to silencing the guns on the continent.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been acknowledged on the continent and in the world in general that women face the heaviest burden when it comes to response – currently, women make up a large demographic of frontline workers addressing the spread of COVID-19. Women therefore face significant health risks not to mention as primary care providers of families, since they bear the added burden of caring for the sick. As for the unintended negative impact of the pandemic, it has been reported that Gender Based Violence considerably increased as families stayed indoors during lockdown measures. Despite women being weighed down by the pandemic, women’s leadership have been significant in averting the pandemic in many parts of the world.

Reflecting back to our continent, we have miles to go in achieving women participation, equality or leadership. However, we also need to work on recognizing women’s roles and their contribution to build effective and resilient democratic governance processes that ensure conflicts are prevented before they are conceived. It is to highlight these contributions made by women and ensure more investments are made for their meaningful engagement that the African Governance Architecture Secretariat on behalf of the African Governance Platform is organizing the Annual Gender Pre-forum to the 2020 9th High-Level Dialogue focusing on the theme “Magnifying the role of women in conflict prevention to silencing the guns in Africa.” The Gender Pre-forum is scheduled to take place virtually from 19-20 November 2020.

Read more here.

Continental Youth Consultation. “Re-Thinking Democratic Governance amid a Pandemic: The Role of African Youth in Silencing the Guns.”

Young people are unyielding for challenging the status quo, a characteristic that is a common tenor among many in Africa. Youth tend to think outside of the box, with the propensity to take bigger risks and transcend traditional thinking processes through innovation. Estimated to be over 70% of Africa’s population, young people’s demographic forte is still on the rise bringing questions of inequality, fairness and justice on democratic governance and socio-economic development to the fore. Beyond the demographic imprint, the search for a sustainable and durable solution for Africa’s peace and security problem must actively engage African youth. It has been stated, and rightly so, that ‘engaging youth in democratic governance processes in Africa could bring significant social, political and economic benefits’.

The dividends of democracy and governance in Africa are yet to be unveiled fully. Democratic governance that functions well but most importantly a democracy that delivers on their basic needs is still under construction. Young people often ask – can democracy put food on the table? Can democracy ensure employment and livelihood? Ideally, yes, democratic governance through its intrinsic and instrumental values must accomplish exactly that. The reality is far from what democratic governance promises to deliver, increasing inequality, winner takes all politics that breeds contentious public discourse, nepotism, corruption, oppression and injustices. Democratic governance has more to do with non-inclusion, the absence of democratic dividend and at times with violent enforcement of democratic values. These injustices have been exposed further by COVID-19. The social contract was broken, rocking the boat harder, thereby calling for a conversation on re-imagining, re-thinking, re-calculating democratic governance by Africans for Africans.

Re-thinking democracy, however, is a daunting task that comes with immense opportunity in revisiting old ideas, re-calibrating strengths and upholding elements that can bring about favourable results for all including youth. Re-thinking civic participation, Re-thinking social cohesion, Re-thinking public Service, Re-thinking Education, Re-thinking health services, Re-thinking politics as political markets shift to virtual space can be a few of the issues. Contrary to negative stereotypes, young people are powerful agents in building the culture of democracy, participation and contributing to the prevention of conflicts in Africa. Youth have played considerable roles in their community through establishing youth movements to promote social cohesion and they have found innovative ways to engage in deepening the culture of democracy in Africa and building resilience to peace.

This year alone, Young people have shown in numbers in Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Cameroon, Ethiopia and other nations leading on the frontlines of change. Beyond going on the streets to voice frustrations, young people need to organize, strategize and revamp their efforts to build the conflict resilient communities they want to see, strive and work to take leadership roles, positions and places; find a seat at the table or better yet build the table themselves, exercise adaptive leadership through active citizenship, intensify their agency to build a democracy they want to see, a democracy that can overcome challenges of social injustices, through engaging systems, institutions and technologies.

Read more about the Continental youth consultation here.

The overall goal of the 9th High-Level Dialogue is to assess, identify and explore normative, structural enablers to achieve sustainable peace in Africa. Specifically, the Dialogue will provide a platform to share evidence-based knowledge and analysis as well as exchange comparable lessons and experiences in silencing the guns while also developing policy recommendations to address current limitations and challenges.

The specific objectives of the HLD are to:

a. To assess the progress that has been made so far through identifying key hindrances and causes; Mapping out trends of violent conflict to understand the trends and courses and assess the socio economic and political impacts of violent conflict in Africa;

b. To address the present democratic governance dynamic by highlighting the need for transformation to create a resilient democratic governance system for sustainable peace;

c. Discuss the futures and recommend appropriate governance reform measures as part of prevention, management and resolution of violent conflict in Africa

d. Highlight innovative, data-driven, technological and advocacy initiatives to improve democratic governance in the continent contributing to Silencing the Guns in the AU Member States;

e. Proffer policy recommendations and practical solutions as well as appropriate governance freeform measures as part of the prevention, management and resolution of violent conflict in Africa;

It is expected that the 2020 High-Level Dialogue will meaningfully contribute towards the realisation of Aspiration 3 and 4 of Agenda 2063 which envisions “An Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law” and “A peaceful and Secure Africa”. The Dialogue will also be instrumental in identifying specific roles of AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities and non-state actors towards contributing to Silencing the Guns.

The Dialogue shall produce the following outputs;
a. One (1) Policy Brief focusing on discussion of the dialogue;
b. One (1) Proceedings Report that will be disseminated widely through traditional and new media;

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 9th HLD will be held virtually. The dialogue and discussions will be conducted through several interactive strategies including TV-Style moderated Panel Discussions, conversations with high profile individuals, marketplace interactions and plenary forums. The Panel Discussions will be designed to ensure an intergenerational exchange as well as ensure a mix of policy and practitioners’ perspectives in the conversations. The Dialogue is intended to provide a frank, open and inclusive space for policymakers, the private sector, think tanks, academia and practitioners to interrogate policy and practice imperatives that build the cornerstone of silencing the guns. In addition, the Dialogue will focus specifically on appropriate democratic governance actions and recommendations that shall guide state and non-state interventions at national, regional, continental levels.

• Silencing the Guns in Africa.
• Africa Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) Roadmap: 2016
• The Africa Governance Report 2019
• Assessment of the Status of the Migration Governance Regime of Member States/RECs
• AU Master Road Map of Practical Steps to Silencing the Guns in Africa
• Governance treaties
• African Youth Charter
• AGA Youth Engagement Strategy
• Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa
• UN Security Council Resolution 1325
• Implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda in Africa
• Continental Results Framework
• Framework for Collaboration between the AUC and the UN on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CSVR).
• She Stands for Peace book
• Africa Education Innovations Handbook 2019
• African Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment 2019-2023
• Capacity building strategy on labour migration governance in Africa

The 9th High Level Dialogue organizing Committee will ensure participants successfully and seamlessly register online for the dialogue and pre-events on the Gender and Youth Forums. The Agenda programme is available here

Registration is now open. Participants should use the links below to register.

1. Gender Pre-Forum.
“Magnifying Women’s Role in Conflict Prevention and Silencing the Guns.”
19-20 November 2020

Register here- https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bJov5IInSxGJ3dWNECUUWw

2. Continental Youth Consultation.
“Re-thinking Democratic Governance amid a pandemic: The Role of African Youth in Silencing the Guns.”
26-27 November 2020

Register here- https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Zcp2oTGIThC4pDtW74hoAQ

3. 9th High-Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance in Africa.
“Silencing The Guns through resilient democracies and accountable governance.”
10-11 December 2020.

Register here- https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZbcniqG2QaeBenQkE7up0Q

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.​