Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed (left), Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, Ambassador Mohamed Siad Doualeh, Permanent Representative of Djibouti to the United Nations and Chair of the African Group, and Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of CTED at the launch event for ¡°Weapons management challenges in the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism in Africa¡± at the African Union mission.
On Thursday, 23 January 2025, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) presented its Analytical Brief, ¡°Weapons management challenges in the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism in Africa¡± during an event co-hosted with the African Union at its Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York. This publication highlights critical vulnerabilities in weapons management across Africa and their impact on counter-terrorism efforts.
The event was opened by Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of CTED, and Ambassador Mohamed Siad Doualeh, Permanent Representative of Djibouti to the United Nations and Chair of the African Group. The opening session emphasized the pressing need to tackle the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons across Africa and their acquisition by terrorists and the detrimental impacts it has on peace, security, and development. The session also called for renewed focus, cooperation and coordination on regional and international levels to ensure effective approaches to this issue.
Following the opening statements, Ambassador Harold A. Agyeman, Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations, spoke on Ghana¡¯s insights on the issue of weapons proliferation on the continent, as well as the recent CTED assessment mission on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee to Ghana, which he noted was an effective way to assess their counter-terrorism efforts against benchmarks. Ambassador Agyeman also stated that the gaps identified in the brief require a coordinated approach and highlighted the numerous regional initiatives that are leading the way in addressing this issue, including the African Union initiative, Silencing the Guns by 2030, the Sao Tome Declaration on a Central African Common Position on the Arms Trade Treaty, and the Economic Community of West African States Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Their Ammunition and Other Related Materials.
After the briefing from Ambassador Agyeman, a panel discussion brought together experts from CTED and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) to present the findings of the paper, as well as share some of the current approaches CTED and UNOCT have been taking to support Member States. Alyazia Alsheebani, Political Affairs Officer at CTED, presented an overview of the publication and its findings, which identifies four key areas for action: strengthening legal frameworks, improving stockpile management, conducting weapons and ammunition baseline assessment, and enhancing weapons tracing mechanisms. Anne-Maria Seesmaa, Legal Officer at CTED, then looked into ways in which CTED fulfils its mandate in facilitating delivery of technical assistance with UNOCT and other relevant partners, addressing the legal, regulatory, institutional and operational frameworks to support Member States in their implementation of measures to prevent terrorist access to weapons through different activities. Maria Eugenia Rettori, Head of the Countering Terrorist Use of Weapons Unit at UNOCT, went into further detail on how CTED¡¯s recommendations and analytical work inform UNOCT¡¯s capacity-building projects and highlighted some of the cooperative projects among United Nations entities, such as and the promotion of these guidelines through regional events, which resulted in an increase of awareness of more than 100 officials through technical discussions and sharing of best practices in the Maghreb, the Sahel and East Africa regions.
The event included a Q&A session, where several Member States took the floor to express their deep concern regarding the issue of illicit weapons proliferation on the continent and noted the importance of the Analytical Brief, as well as their hopes for enhanced cooperation and efforts. Idriss Mounir Lallali, Director of the African Union Counter Terrorism Centre, also took the floor. He commended the long-standing partnership with CTED and announced the imminent launch of the Africa chapter of the Global Research Network, as a part of that partnership.
The event concluded with remarks from David Scharia, Chief of Branch at CTED, who expressed his gratitude to participants and underscored the importance of cooperation and sustained efforts in tackling the issue of weapons proliferation.
The agenda for the event is available here.
The Analytical Brief is available here.
Photos from the event are available .