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Last year, the East African Community and the Accra Initiative became the 14th and 15th African regional organisations to authorise peacekeeping operations, respectively.

Eric Berman has carried out many research projects that seek to expand the number of actors promoting sound weapons and ammunition management (WAM) practices in conflict settings, and the type of equipment concerns (i.e., small arms and light weapons as well as heavy weapon systems and non-lethal materiel). His latest work is the Lake Chad Basin region study entitled: ‘The Management of Lethal Materiel in Conflict Settings: Existing Challenges and Opportunities for the European Peace Facility. In a short article that summarizes many of the study’s findings, Berman noted that “loss of munitions and other lethal materiel from African armed forces and peace operations is a key factor sustaining militant groups driving instability on the continent”.

Read the article in French here.

Loss of munitions and other lethal materiel from African armed forces and peace operations is a key factor sustaining militant groups driving instability on the continent.

The ancient Romans used to say: ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum’ (‘If you want peace, prepare for war’). Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, paraphrased this aphorism at last year’s 10th EU–African Union meeting when he suggested that arming African partners is necessary to help to silence terrorists’ guns, which reflected a significant shift in the EU’s foreign and security policy. This new approach—part of the EU’s increasing reliance on military-oriented tools to fulfil its goals to contribute to peace, security and development around the world—is in some measure embodied by the new European Peace Facility (EPF).

Boko Haram's capture of materiel from government forces in the Lake Chad region bolsters the jihadi insurgency's lethality, posing a grave risk to civilians, peacekeepers, and other military personnel.