On 21 April, UNOAU participated in the third African Union Standing Committee meeting on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). The opening statement was provided by the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Ambassador Adeoye Bankole, who emphasised the importance of achieving the AU Silencing the Guns targets and encouraged more efforts and specific support to regional activities. The report of the second standing committee meeting was then reviewed and adopted. The AU Commission provided updates on the progress made on its 2021-22 SALW projects and related institutional developments and the AU DDR program. The AU Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL) briefed on their efforts towards fighting illicit trafficking. The AU Silencing the Guns unit underlined the Commissioner’s comments on the importance of more focus on achieving progress in supporting of the Silencing the Guns objectives.

Members of the Standing Committee provided summary reports on the progress made on their projects from June 2021 including challenges and priorities. Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN-SAD), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), East African Standy Force (EASF), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), United Nations Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC), Madagascar, Ghana, Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Southern African Development Community (SADC), UMA, International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Regional Center for Small arms (RECSA), North African Regional Capability (NARC), SARCOM, Central African Republic and Ethiopia were all invited to report. The AU DDR representative presented on the current Arms Database and raised the need to expand the database to enable further coordination and collaboration. Discussions also took place regarding the steps and processes of revising the Bamako Declaration in preparation for the upcoming fourth review conference on the implementation of the Programme of Action (PoA) to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in SALW.