Tomorrow (14 September) and on 15 September, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene in Algiers, Algeria, to commemorate the 2026 Africa Amnesty Month.

The session will commence with welcoming remarks from a representative of the Government of Algeria as the host, followed by a statement from Hervé Djokpe, Permanent Representative of Benin to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for September. Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security (PAPS), will then make a statement. Representatives of NARC and RECSA as well as the UN will also address the session.

The PSC has held annual sessions to mark Amnesty Month since 2017, following the decision of the 29th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly in July 2017. That decision declared September of each year, until 2020, as ‘Africa Amnesty Month’ for the surrender and collection of illegally owned weapons/arms. The 14th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly on Silencing the Guns, held in December 2020, extended the initiative to 2030, aligning it with the decision to extend the deadline for Silencing the Guns to 2030.

The Amnesty Month was launched to encourage non-state actors illegally possessing weapons to surrender them voluntarily and confidentially to designated government authorities, without facing disclosure, humiliation, arrest, or prosecution. The Assembly decision also urges Member States, RECs/RMs and civil society to publicise Amnesty Month each September and mobilise citizens behind the effort to silence the guns.

In recent years, the PSC initiated the practice of commemorating Amnesty Month on a rotational basis in the various regions of the continent. Since this practice started, it has held the commemoration in Lomé, Togo (2022), Maputo, Mozambique (2023), Bangui, Central African Republic (2024) and Kampala, Uganda (2025). This year’s commemoration will take place in Algiers, Algeria, under the theme ‘Advancing the Silencing the Guns Initiative and Strengthening Sustainable Peace through Shared Experiences on SALW Control and De-mining Action.’ Key activities will include awareness-raising campaigns, exhibitions on mine action and demonstrations of the destruction of illicit small arms, anti-personnel mines and improvised explosive devices recovered through law enforcement and border-security operations.

While the commemoration of the Africa Amnesty Month is largely symbolic, it serves the purpose of mobilising attention to the threat posed by the circulation and use of small arms and light weapons (SALW) outside of the control of legitimate state authority. The proliferation of SALWs is identified as a major driver of conflicts and insecurity in the AU Roadmap on Practical Steps for STG. It also serves as an occasion for reviewing the implementation of the STG and the challenges that remain, more so given that 2025 marks the halfway point for achieving the STG in 2030.

Across Africa, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) continues to threaten peace and security. A 2019 study conducted by the AU Commission and the Small Arms Survey revealed that civilian actors on the continent, including private individuals, registered entities such as private security companies and non-state armed groups, collectively possess more than 40 million small arms, representing nearly 80 per cent of the total stockpile on the continent. In contrast, armed forces and law enforcement agencies account for less than 11 million small arms. Of the estimated 40 million civilian-held firearms, only 5,841,200 are officially registered, while 16,043,800 remain unregistered, with the status of the remainder uncertain.

These weapons are among the primary drivers of violence, frequently used by illegal armed groups and terrorists to initiate and sustain conflicts. According to the Report of the Chairperson of the AU Commission on counterterrorism submitted to the PSC’s 1182nd session, SALW remain the weapon of choice for terrorist groups, accounting for more than 70% of attacks and over 75% of recorded deaths in 2023. The 2019 mapping study on illicit small arms flows in Africa highlights two main sources of illicit weapons on the continent: the diversion of licit arms to unauthorised users, and weapons already illicitly circulating within Africa. The large-scale diversion of national stockpiles amid the crises in Libya, Mali, and CAR has not only intensified conflicts in those countries and beyond but also provided significant material supply for terrorist groups.

On anti-personnel mines, Africa has been at the forefront of the global effort to ban them. In June 1995, the 62nd Ordinary Session of the OAU Council of Ministers adopted Resolution CM/Res 1593 on the ‘UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and Problems Posed by the Proliferation of Anti-Personnel Mines in Africa,’ which, inter alia, called for a total ban on anti-personnel landmines and the universalisation of relevant legally binding instruments. This was followed by the adoption of the Common African Position on Anti-Personnel Mines during the Second Continental Conference of African Experts in September 2004.

Despite significant efforts and progress over the years, the continent continues to face serious challenges in mine action. A concerning trend is the re-emergence of landmines in countries previously declared mine-free, including Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritania. Mozambique, which was declared mine-free in 2015, also faces renewed threats due to the use of improvised mines by insurgents in the Cabo Delgado province. Ethiopia also reported massive antipersonnel landmine contamination in 2023, with over 100 km² affected, while Angola, Chad, Eritrea, and Mauritania reported contamination levels ranging from 20 to 99 km². Reports also indicate that IEDs have become the weapon of choice for terrorist groups across the continent, particularly in regions affected by conflicts involving terrorist groups such as the Sahel, the Great Lakes, and the Horn of Africa.

The PSC, in its 1072nd and 1146th sessions, expressed ‘serious concern’ over the use of anti-personnel mines and IEDs and called for compliance with international treaties banning their use. On illicit arms circulation, PSC’s 832^nd  meeting of March 2019 placed primary responsibility for combating illicit arms circulation on Member States; however, limited capacity and porous borders continue to undermine effective control. Strengthening stockpile management, record-keeping, and tracing mechanisms will be essential to reducing diversion of illicit arms to non-state actors; at the same time, the AU Commission should build stronger political commitment to embed these measures within national frameworks. State reporting, however, remains inconsistent. However, the Council tried to address this at its 1105th meeting in September 2022, when it directed the Commission to develop a standardised reporting and monitoring template and conduct five-yearly surveys on illicit weapon collection. A progress report on the latter will be imperative.

Africa Amnesty Month cannot contribute to the STG agenda if pursued in the business-as-usual fashion as it has been done since its adoption in 2017. For it to be effective and meaningful, it also has to serve as an occasion for facilitating concrete action in curbing the flow and use of such weapons in specific conflict situations. This can be achieved practically through an independent report on the sources and channels of supply of arms and weapons to conflict parties, such as that requested by the communiqué of the 1218^th session of the PSC on Sudan. In the absence of effective follow-up on such decisions, the commemoration of the Amnesty Month will remain part of the declaratory engagements disconnected from and lacking tangible relevance in respect to any of the conflict settings on the continent.

The expected outcome is a report which will be adopted through a communiqué. Council may urge Member States to ensure the safe destruction of all collected illegal weapons in line with the national, continental and international instruments, as well as reiterate the need to have sustained reporting on the programmes and activities undertaken during the AAM to the AU Commission. It may also encourage Member States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the relevant continental and international instruments to regulate the international trade in weapons, as well as to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty. It may express concern over the continued threat posed by anti-personnel landmines and ERW, including the increasing use of improvised explosive devices by terrorist groups and their use in some recent conflicts. In this regard, the PSC may reiterate its call for the finalisation and submission of the draft AU Counter-IED Strategy for its consideration. On collaboration, the PSC may reiterate the need for the AU Commission to work with the RECs/RMs to support the implementation of DDR programmes in Member States. It may urge Member States to further enhance cooperation and collaboration, including by sharing information and intelligence, strengthening border management, and conducting joint operations to combat illicit trade/trafficking in SALW. The PSC may also request that the focus of the Amnesty Month go beyond SALW and cover the supply and use of new weapons such as drones, as well as explore ways and mechanisms to address the root causes driving the demand for small arms and weapons.