Spotlight: Helping African states to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction

The ISS is working with the South African government and the UN to help African states comply with their international obligations.

Published on 10 April 2014 in Impact

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) is working with the South African government and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) to help African states comply with their international obligations on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Although 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by non-state actors, 17 African states have yet to submit a first national report on what they are doing to implement the resolution.

From 10-11 April the ISS is facilitating a workshop in Pretoria hosted by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. The hands-on training will assist the governments of Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe, The Gambia, Somalia and Malawi to meet the requirements of Resolution 1540. Officials can also share their experiences, challenges and best practices.

The ISS is the only non-governmental organisation in Africa working to ensure that the continent’s voice on non-proliferation is heard at the global level, and supporting African governments to fulfill their international commitments. The ISS facilitated a similar process with the South African government in 2012 in collaboration with the African Union (AU) and the UNODA.

The importance of this work has been recognised by the AU, whose member states appreciate the potentially destructive links between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The AU Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism obliges states parties to strengthen national and regional measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

In December 2013, the AU convened a workshop on Resolution 1540 in Addis Ababa, and a UNREC workshop for French-speaking countries was held in Gabon in March 2014. A similar event is planned for Portuguese-speaking states on the continent.

For more information contact:

Noel Stott, Transnational Threats and International Crime division, ISS Pretoria: [email protected]