Update on Peace Operations and COVID-19

The escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic across Africa, which began in March 2020, has gravely affected how the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) undertakes its operations.

Talks on a new EU-Africa partnership have been derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, conceded on Monday (21 September), as a key summit of the two sides has been postponed until 2021.

[…] Among other things, the update outlines the steps needed to save lives, protect societies and recover better while pointing the way to addressing future shocks, above all from climate change, and overcoming the universal inequities.

The erosion of trust in public institutions, unequal access to health care and tensions around delicate peace negotiations, are among the risks amplified by COVID-19, which if not mitigated, could push more countries into violence, the UN political affairs chief told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The world has “entered a volatile and unstable new phase” in terms of the impact of COVID-19 on peace and security, the UN chief told a virtual meeting with world leaders on Wednesday.

While the world struggles to address the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, many vulnerable populations are combatting cross-cutting threats to their livelihood, peace, and security. A stark example is in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions of Africa, where attacks by violent extremist groups have persisted since March.

The 2020 United Nations (UN) peacebuilding review was tasked to take stock of the progress made over the first 15 years of the UN’s Peacebuilding Architecture (PBA). Over the last few months, almost all peacebuilding initiatives and programmes have been affected by the measures introduced to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The downstream effects of the pandemic are likely to continue to have an impact on peacebuilding, and especially its financing, for at least the next 12 to 24 months.