CCCPA conducted a training on the African Union Operational Guidance Notes (AU OGN) on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) with a focus on countering violent extremism (CVE). The training was held in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the AU, and the World Bank (WB), with the support of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The training, which took place in Cairo from 25 to 29 July 2022, comprised 11 participants from five African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Mozambique and Nigeria), including representatives from national DDR commissions and various government authorities from the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel regions. The training mainly targeted countries witnessing a surge in terrorism while also grappling with a mounting caseload of individuals formerly associated with terrorist groups.

The training aims to build lasting African capacities in the field of DDR and CVE as stipulated in the AU OGNs, in light of the particular considerations and challenges DDR practitioners are confronted with in terrorism contexts. The OGN on DDR and CVE specifically provides guidance for DDR practitioners on planning, designing, and implementing screening, prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration programs to deal with the challenge of handling individuals formerly associated with terrorist groups in Africa. CCCPA’s experience in this field comes in view of its contribution to supporting the AU in developing the first-of-its-kind OGN on the linkages between DDR and CVE.

Ambassador Ahmed Abdel-Latif, CCCPA’s Director General, emphasized the imperative of capacity building and knowledge-sharing between practitioners and officials, as well as across international, regional, and local levels, to enhance holistic and comprehensive approaches to collectively address the threat of terrorism. This is a key priority area for CCCPA as an AU Center of Excellence, and as the Secretariat of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development. Ambassador Abdel-Latif also underlined that CCCPA is delighted to be implementing this training in partnership with the AU, UNITAR and WB.

As part of the joint AU-UNITAR-WB initiative on DDR, this training is an integral part of the World Bank Global Program for Reintegration Support 2019-2022 Programming Framework in support of the African Union funded by FCDO. The initiative aims to contribute to international, regional, and local efforts at promoting peace, security, and stability in Africa by building and maintaining the capacity of national, regional, and international stakeholders to implement DDR processes and programs in line with the AU DDR OGNs. This is done through the operationalization and dissemination of the AU DDR OGNs in the form of blended training courses to the various AU member states and Peace Support Missions.

Additionally, the joint AU-UNITAR-WB initiative has been further developing the training courses in close collaboration with selected African Centers of Excellence, including CCCPA.