Demilitarise Africa, end foreign military bases, PeacePro tasks AU
An organisation concerned with peacebuilding in Africa, the Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro), has stated that the African continent will experience lasting peace when the African Union and other regional bodies make a firm decision to demilitarise the continent by putting an end to the presence of foreign military bases and state-connected mercenaries on the continent.
As part of the recommendations contained in its maiden edition of the Africa Peace Insight (API) report in Nigeria, the organisation stated that the demilitarisation of the continent would reduce the availability of small arms and light weapons in the hands of non-state actors, thereby giving state forces fewer challenges in dealing with insecurity.
The Executive Director of PeacePro, Ambassador Abdulrazaq Hamzat, said at the public presentation of the report during the weekend that the African Union and other regional bodies should make a firm decision on the status of all foreign military bases on the continent and set both short- and long-term targets to demilitarise the continent.
“The short-term target of the continent should be the total demilitarisation of all foreign military bases within the next five years, ensuring that existing military bases are without weapons and military hardware.
“Long-term targets should be based on regional priority, ultimately leading to the total eradication of foreign military presence on the continent, both in terms of hardware and personnel.”
It was also recommended that the African Union and other regional bodies develop a joint continental gateway to the global mineral market as part of the continent’s free trade agreement, such as Mines2Market.
“The African Union and other regional bodies should pull resources together to create a gateway for all countries on the continent to access the global market and sell their products at market prices, using the Mines2Market approach.
“States should decriminalise artisanal mining, create access for artisanal miners to legally operate within the continent, and attract more resources to mining communities.”
The report also named Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, and Tunisia as the most peaceful countries across the five subregions of Africa, and it equally listed South Africa, Sudan, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the least peaceful countries across the subregion.
Hamzat said that the Africa Peace Insight is an extracted report from the Global Peace Index (GPI), produced by the Australia-based Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), to contextualise, simplify, and further break the GPI from a continental perspective.
He also explained that the Africa Peace Insight report spotlights ongoing conflicts in Africa, including the situation in ECOWAS-led West Africa and the ongoing crisis in Sudan.
It also outlined the most and least peaceful countries across the subregion and provided recommendations on pressing peacebuilding concerns on the continent.