Second Vice-President Enoch Chihana has asked the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to stand firmly behind the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Madagascar towards attaining stability.
Chairing an Extraordinary Sadc Troika Summit in Lilongwe on behalf of President Peter Mutharika who is in South Africa on a private visit, Chihana led regional leaders in endorsing a high-level goodwill mission to the DRC and reaffirming support for Madagascar’s transition towards elections.
“We must not abandon our sister nation, the DRC, in an hour of need,” Chihana said as he announced the outcomes of the virtual summit.
The summit resolved to dispatch a high-level Sadc goodwill mission to the DRC to assess the security situation following the withdrawal of regional troops and to support ongoing peace and mediation efforts.
The decision comes amid continuing insecurity in eastern DRC, where armed groups remain active despite the withdrawal of the Sadc Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) whose mandate ended in March last year.
On Madagascar, Chihana said the summit reaffirmed support for that country’s National Refoundation Programme and called on political stakeholders to ensure an inclusive transition culminating in free and fair elections within the agreed 24-month period.
Sadc Executive Secretary Elias Magosi warned that the conflict continues to threaten regional stability.
“DRC needs our urgent support and partnership to protect the country and the region,” he said, noting that the violence has increasingly affected neighbouring Rwanda and carries the risk of wider regional spillover.
Magosi also raised concern over a resurgence of Ebola in the DRC, calling for a coordinated regional response.
The summit received and considered the final report of the Sadc Panel of Elders on Madagascar presented by Malawi’s former president Joyce Banda, who has led three diplomatic missions to the island nation since January.
The summit followed a meeting of ministers from the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, which prepared recommendations for consideration by heads of State and government.
However, the issue of xenophobic attacks on foreign African nationals in South Africa, which was listed among the matters before the ministers, did not feature in the final summit deliberations. The reasons for its exclusion were not immediately clear.
Meanwhile, in his opening remarks during the ministerial session, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation George Chaponda listed the xenophobic attacks as one of three pressing challenges facing the region.
“The decision we recommend will shape our credibility as the guarantor of peace, security and stability in our region,” he said.
However, when Chaponda briefed journalists after the closed-door summit, he did not reflect on the matter. He said the issue will be discussed at another level within Sadc.
South Africa was expected to brief the virtual summit on the xenophobia situation in the country and measures being undertaken to address the attacks on irregular migrants.
The Sadc Organ Troika comprises Malawi as chairperson, the Kingdom of Eswatini as incoming chairperson and Tanzania as outgoing chair while the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation is mandated to safeguard peace and stability across the region through conflict prevention, management and resolution.
