JB leaves for SA on DRC peace mission

Malawi President Joyce Banda is this afternoon scheduled to leave for Pretoria in South Africa to attend the Joint Southern African Development Community (Sadc)/International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Summit.

The groundbreaking joint summit is expected to discuss the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

According to a statement from the State House Press Office, the leaders will seek to find common political and diplomatic solutions to a situation that threatens the stability of the southern part and the Great Lakes region of the continent.

The statement said Banda, who is chairperson of Sadc, will ask the conflicting parties to return to the negotiating table and avoid further escalation of fighting, for the sake of the DRC and the continent as a whole.

The statement quotes Banda as having said: ‘’Without peace in the DRC, there will be no prosperity in the Sadc region, there will be no prosperity in the Great Lakes region. There will be no prosperity in Africa.”fighting between the army and M23 rebels in the eastern region of the DRC. Galvanised by the prospect of a spillover into neighbouring countries, regional actors have stepped up efforts to find a lasting solution to the long-running conflict.

During the 68th United Nations General Assembly, President Banda and President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia (chairperson of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation) met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to request the UN assistance to bring the opposing sides in the conflict together and to push for the withdrawal of Rwandan troops deployed along the border with the DRC.