African Union Says Peace, Security Situation Improving In Continent

Africa’s peace and security situation is improving due to collective efforts to reduce national and transnational conflicts, an African Union official said on Thursday.

Christopher Suna Kayoshe, Acting Head of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration and Security Sector Reform Division at the African Union (AU) told a forum in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya that cases of unconstitutional changes of governments which is a key driver of insecurity have also been on the decline.

He said during the Africa peace and security accountability symposium of civil society organizations and the AU that the African Union has also stepped up efforts to deploy security peacekeepers in order to spread peace across the continent.

Kayoshe added that there is also a high level of political commitment by the heads of states of AU member states to eradicate insecurity because it undermines the region’s development agenda.

He observed that the AU has also enhanced efforts committed to tackling the root causes of insecurity in the continent.

“Weak grass root institutions, as well as poverty and economic decline, is a common underlying cause of lack of peace and security in the continent,” he revealed.

He noted that the Pan African body has also boosted efforts to rid the continent of illicit small arms and light weapons that are fueling insecurity in the continent.