COVID-19 Conflict & Resilience Monitor – 30 September 2020

Despite its obvious limits and constraints, the African Union (AU) has been doing its utmost to address peace and security challenges in Africa. However, over the past few years, the involvement of external powers has drastically increased at the expense of seeking African solutions to African problems. This trend has deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent reduction of meetings, field visits and peace initiatives by the AU.

COVID-19 has affected all sectors of Malian society, especially the security, economic and social dimensions. In terms of security, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have enabled jihadists to firmly re-establish themselves in central Mali and to make new inroads towards the west of the country. Economically and socially, COVID-19 and the measures introduced to prevent it have severely disrupted the lives of many people in Mali.

There is an important need for relevant stakeholders to adopt strategies aimed at reaching out to farming and pastoralist communities, if the fight for the mitigation and possible eradication of the COVID-19 pandemic is to have any meaningful effect.

When the COVID-19 outbreak began to emerge as a global crisis, countries around the world were forced to react and prepare for a potential outbreak within their borders. For many, closing their borders was an immediate solution, but for Uganda, it was a measure to buy time for a public health approach composed of multisector strategies that had proven successful time and time again in the country’s response to epidemics.