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This project allows BICC to continue capacity development activities for the African Union as well as for select focus states in the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Chad, Sudan) and in the Horn of Africa (Uganda, Somalia, Djibouti). It will complement activities implemented in the framework of its West African ‘sister’ project (Nigeria and Mali), as well as other BICC project activities on security sector reform (SSR)/disarmament demobilization and reintegration (DDR) in South Sudan.
BICC has supported PSSM capacity development activities in the RECSA region since 2011 when it conducted several activities related to PSSM in South Sudan and Sudan. A team of technical advisors on the ground has provided support to the Sudan DDR Commission and the Sub-regional Arms Control Mechanism (SARCOM). The focus of these activities was capacity development on PSSM as well as on civilian arms registration in Darfur. BICC then also assisted the African Union in developing a mechanism to better coordinate PSSM/SALW control project activities implemented by different agencies and supported by various donors in the Sahel region.
The current project aims at:

1. Providing technical assistance to the African Union Peace and Security Department (PSD) in the area of PSSM/SALW control with a particular focus on the exchange of best practices and the coordination of international assistance to Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and member states in the Sahel region.
   
   
2. Providing technical assistance and capacity development to the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA), as well as selected RECSA member states (in particular DRC, Djibouti, Somalia and Uganda) in the area of PSSM/SALW control.
   
   
3. Providing technical assistance and capacity development for PSSM/SALW control activities in the Sahel region, in particular to Burkina Faso, Chad and Sudan.
   
   
4. Supporting regional and sub-regional PSSM training courses organized in cooperation with RECSA (IPSTC course in Nairobi, Kenya) and the German Armed Forces’ Verification Center of the (ZVBw).

To reach these objectives, BICC has deployed a technical advisor to the African Union Peace and Security Department in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a technical advisor to RECSA in Nairobi, Kenya. The project is carried out in cooperation with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the ZVBw.