Progress
30%Aim
Silencing the Guns commits the African Union to ending all wars, armed conflicts, gender-based violence, and violent conflict in Africa by 2030, underpinned by the AU's Peace and Security Architecture and its Silence the Guns framework.
Progress to date
The original 2020 deadline was extended to 2030. A mid-term evaluation published in 2025 found that the number of armed conflicts on the continent had nearly tripled compared to 2013, with active conflicts in Sudan, the DRC, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa. The AU Peace Fund has grown, and several successful mediation processes have been completed, but overall indicators have worsened.
Challenges
Fragile governance, competition over natural resources, external interference, and the proliferation of non-state armed groups undermine every peace-building effort and make durable ceasefires difficult to sustain.
Next steps
The AU is prioritising the Sudan and eastern DRC crises, strengthening the African Standby Force funding, and aligning the Silence the Guns agenda with the broader Agenda 2063 mid-term review process ahead of 2030.