President Touray Meets African Union High Representative on The Silencing The Guns Initiative

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, H. E. Dr Omar Alieu Touray has met with the African Union High Representative, H. E. Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas to discuss modalities for implementing the AU Master Roadmap on Practical Steps to Silence the Guns in the region. Dr Chambas, who is a former President of the ECOWAS Commission, was appointed by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H. E. Moussa Faki Mahamet, with a mandate to promote and strengthen advocacy, mediation and preventative diplomacy to end all conflicts, gender-based violence and prevent genocide in the continent by 2030.

Dr Chambas noted the need to anchor the Silencing the Guns initiative with each regional bloc in the continent for maximum success starting with ECOWAS. The AU Envoy said the implementation plan for the initiative takes into cognizance the peculiarities of each region and the strong nexus between ECOWAS Vision 2050 and AU Agenda 2063. He highlighted four thematic areas of the initiative as Reducing Crime, Addressing Climate Change, Preventing Unconstitutional Change of Government and Mitigating Violent Extremism. He solicited the support of the ECOWAS Commission and the Member States towards ownership and commitment to the implementation of the initiative.

In his brief remarks, President Touray thanked the AU Envoy for the visit and promised to put all necessary mechanisms in place for the success of the initiative in the region.