Weapons and Ammunition Management in Africa Insight: 2022 Update

Ineffective through-life management of weapons and ammunition contributes to diversion and illicit proliferation and thus facilitates, exacerbates, and accelerates armed conflict, armed violence, including gender-based violence, and instability. This impedes social and economic development. Weapons and ammunition management (WAM) is the oversight, accountability, and governance of conventional arms and ammunition throughout their life cycle. UNIDIR has identified ten key functional areas for WAM, including a national coordination mechanism and a national legal and regulatory framework, as well as measures to be taken for transfer controls, stockpile management, marking, record-keeping, dealing with illicit arms and ammunition, and disposal. This is the first annual update by UNIDIR to recognize the progress made by nine African states to strengthen their WAM policy and practice after undertaking a WAM baseline assessment using UNIDIR’s methodology. The report presents national examples of progress in addressing gaps and deficiencies in the ten key functional areas for WAM.