‘Silencing the Guns’, Sisi’s initiative for stopping bloodshed in Africa

Nahla Abdelmonem

The “Silencing the Guns” initiative, proposed by Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has turned into a cornerstone of efforts for ending conflicts in the African continent.

The initiative contains binding measures for all parties involved in conflicts in the continent.

It comes, President Sisi said, within the framework of the principle of solving African problems via African solutions. He said the initiative would seek to end all conflicts in the continent by 2020.

The president added at the inaugural session of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development that the initiative has a clear methodology for dealing with conflicts and rebuilding areas affected by these conflicts.

This will be done, he said, in a way that brings about the required stability to Africa, help its countries rebuild their institutions and make the best exploitation of their resources to achieve sustainable development for their peoples.

“Egypt believes that bringing about peace in Africa and in the world requires solving the root causes of conflicts,” President Sisi said. “This would be done through diplomacy aiming at settling conflicts.”

Initiative

President Sisi proposed the “Silencing the Guns” initiative soon after Egypt took over the presidency of the African Union earlier in 2019.

African states then adopted the initiative as a mechanism for ending wars in the continent. In February 2019, the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2457, which considered the initiative a roadmap for achieving peace in Africa by 2020.

The initiative aims at finding a framework for ceasing fire in conflict zones and instituting dialogue as a way of settling conflicts, instead of violence.

Conflicts and terrorism

The initiative is bringing up links between conflicts and unrest, on one hand, and terrorism, on the other. The sure thing is that violence and instability function as an appropriate environment for terrorism to take root and grow.

These facts were highlighted by the international terrorism index which is released by the Institute for Economics and Peace in Sydney, Australia.

Rampant conflicts in some countries, the 2019 index says, contribute to increasing the presence of terrorist groups in these countries.

Serious initiative

Terrorism specialist, Hesham al-Najjar, described President Sisi’s initiative as “instrumental” for bringing about peace in Africa.

“Ethnic and political conflicts in Africa have undermined the continent and turned it into a fertile soil for the growth of terrorism,” al-Najjar told The Reference. “Some international powers also abet the terrorist groups by providing them with money and arms.”