African Union concludes Consultative Workshop to review AU DDR Operational Guidance

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, December 4, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Commission of the African Union (AU), convened a two day consultative workshop from 3-4 December 2013, to review the AU DDR operational guidance documents on issues of Detention, Women and Children in armed conflict, Reintegration and developing frameworks for National DDR initiatives, which will assist the AU's engagement in DDR related activities.

The meeting was opened by Dr. Tarek A. Sharif, Head, Defense and Security Division (DSD), and brought together DDR experts from selected Member States, representatives from the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), representatives from Center of Excellence (Kofi Annan Centre), the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the World Bank, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and staff from the AU Commission.

The workshop was held as part of the Commission's efforts to assist its Member States, RECS/RMs in building their capacity to respond effectively and in a timely manner to DDR challenges in Africa, in a manner that reflects the wealth of African experiences across the continent whilst also presenting an opportunity for technical input to the AU DDR capacity program. The operational guidance documents are aimed at strengthening the continental peace and security architecture and provide a platform for the AU to provide practical and political support to AU Member States and regional mechanisms in addressing DDR related challenges as they arise.

These operational guidance documents are intended to help standardize critical elements in any peace support operation on the continent based on experience to date by member states, from RECs and other partners to dates and are an important step towards improving and harmonize DDR modalities.

The AU DDR capacity program enjoys the support of the World Bank and UN as well as other key partners working towards enhancing efficiency and effectiveness on how the AU addresses key issues pertaining to DDR on across the African continent.