The Southern African Development Community extraordinary troika summit of heads of state and government will today discuss the political and security situation in the region. The two-day summit kicked off yesterday in Windhoek.
The Organ Troika Summit was preceded by the ministerial committee of the organ meeting yesterday. President Hage Geingob will chair the summit in his capacity as the chairperson of the organ on politics, defence and security cooperation.
The troika, comprising Namibia (current chair), Zambia (incoming chair) and South Africa (outgoing chair) is expected to discuss and find ways of addressing the political and security situation in the region.
Topics of interest
Discussions of interest expected today
include the developments on the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) that was deployed on 15 July 2021 in Cabo Delgado Province as a regional response to support that country to combat terrorism and acts of violent extremism.
“SADC will continue to support the Republic of Mozambique, through SAMIM, in combatting terrorism and acts of violent extremism in Cabo Delgado Province by neutralising the terrorist threat and restoring security in order to create a secure environment and pave the way for a sustainable development of Mozambique
and the SADC region,” said Geingob earlier this month in a statement.
A concern for the region would also be the situation in Eswatini, after a leading human rights lawyer and political activist in the Kingdom of Eswatini, Thulani Rudolf Maseko was killed.
At his death, Maseko was chairperson of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, which was established as a coalition of non-state actors to advocate for a process of national political dialogue aimed at resolving the security and political challenges confronting the kingdom.
At the opening yesterday, executive secretary of SADC Elias Magosi said the meeting will continue to deliberate on ways and means of consolidating peace and
stability while mitigating the emerging
threats to peace and stability that has the potential if not addressed to reverse what the region had already achieved.
Magosi said the situation in Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique remains
challenging and volatile.
“The situation in eastern part of DRC remains unstable and worrying and therefore requires urgent attention. Hope the meeting will provide lasting and progressive strides to tackle issues in the Kingdom of Eswatini too,” he said.
We still believe the national dialogue remains fundamental to ease tensions and find a common and amicable solution to the challenges in the kingdom. In this regard, we remain hopeful that this meeting and tomorrow’s summit will provide lasting and progressive solutions to assist the kingdom
to make meaningful strides towards a
national engagement, added Magosi.
At the same event, in her capacity as the chairperson of the organ’s ministerial committee, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said the kingdoms of Eswatini and Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are expected to provide updates
on their situations for best targeted decisions to be taken to make sure peace exist in the region.
“We cannot relegate our peace and security to others; they can simply support and assist where there is a need; but the responsibility for the promotion and the maintenance of peace and security in our region lies with us,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah.
SADC is a regional economic community comprising 16 member states.
The mission of SADC is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development through efficient, productive systems, deeper cooperation and integration, good governance and durable peace and security; so that the region emerges as a competitive and effective player in international relations and the world economy.
–mndjavera@nepc.com.na