LUANDA, Angola
The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) leaders on Thursday agreed to deploy troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and extended the bloc’s military mission in Mozambique, in a move they said is meant to bring peace to the region.
The resolutions were made
after the 43rd Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and
Government, the highest organ of the southern African bloc. The decision means
member states of the bloc could deploy a new mission to the DRC, making it
three the number of foreign military missions in eastern parts of the country
where hundreds of armed groups roam.
The two others; the United
Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Congo (Monusco) and the East African
Community Regional Force (EACRF) have operated controversially, sometimes
accused of being lethargic and facing angry civilians in protests.
This week, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced Monusco will hasten their withdrawal, citing a hostile public opinion about the 15,000-troop mission. Monusco is supposed to leave completely by end of next year, starting this coming December.
EACRF on its part has its
mandate until September this year and could be forced out if Kinshasa refuses
to extend the Status of Force Agreement which is the country permission to
allow the troops from the East African Community to deploy. EACRF was deployed
in November last year and had its initial agreement extended by six months in
March.
SADC’s decision, openly
favoured by Kinshasa earlier, means the troops will be deployed as a complement
of EACRF, rather than compete for attention.
SADC Leaders gathering in the
Angolan capital Luanda on Thursday cited both situations, the instability in
the eastern part of DRC and in the insurgency in northern province of Cabo
Delgado in Mozambique as issues of global concern. The two countries are
members of SADC, but DRC also recently joined the East African Community.
“Summit endorsed the extension
of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (Samim) by twelve months, and commended
Member States, Samim Mission Leadership and Personnel for their dedication and
contribution in supporting the Mission to achieve peace and security in the
Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique and the commencement of a phased
drawdown of Samim,” the Summit’s communiqué reads.
As for the DRC, “summit also
received an update on the security situation in the eastern DRC and endorsed
the deployment of the Samim to restore peace and security in the eastern DRC”.
In the DRC, diplomatic efforts
as well as consultations and high-level meetings have been held without
favourable results. In Mozambique, an insurgency since 2017 has displaced thousands.
Violence first erupted in October 2017 when about 30 armed men launched a dawn
raid on three police stations in Mocimboa da Praia.
Samim was first deployed in
July 2021, following Rwandan troops who had arrived on scene in a bilateral
arrangement with Maputo.
The summit saw the election of
Angola President João Lourenço as SADC chairperson who considered the situation
in Mozambique more stable but expressed his concern over the instability in the
DRC.
“…we have seen that the
current situation in Mozambique is considerably calmer and more stable…”
“We will continue to work on
finding the best paths to peace in the east of the DRC, in close co-ordination
and consultation with the other mechanisms currently in place to resolve this
intractable conflict,” President Lourenço told the audience at the end of the
summit.
Zambia President Hakainde
Hichilema who was elected as Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and
Security Cooperation considers local solutions as the answer for the
instability in the region.
“We all agree that African
challenges are best addressed with African solutions and by Africans
themselves, underscoring the importance of increased trade and investment among
SADC Member States,” President Hichilema wrote at his Facebook page soon after
the summit.
Apart from Presidents João
Lourenço and Hakainde Hichilema, the summit was also attended by the Presidents
Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, Felix Tshisekedi of DRC and Lazarus Chakwera of
Malawi.
Presidents Filipe Nyusi of
Mozambique, Hage Geingob of Namibia, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Emmerson
Mnangagwa and King Mswati III of Eswatini were also among the audience.
Lesotho, Seychelles, Tanzania,
Mauritius and Comoros were represented.
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