Heads of State deliberate on SADC regional security concerns at 42nd summit
The President, HE Dr Hage Geingob was elected chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the 42nd ordinary summit of Heads of State and Government.
The summit, conducted over two days, started on Wednesday 17 August 2022 in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kinshasa.
The new SADC chairperson is the Congolese president, HE Felix Tshisekedi with the Angolan president, HE João Lourenço as Incoming Chair.
Incoming chair for the security organ, is the Zambian president, HE Hakainde Hichilema. Outgoing security chair, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa reported to the summit on security hotspots in the subcontinent. His report covered the workings of the organ, specifically the deployment of the SADC peacekeeping troops in Cabo Delgado in Mozambique and the eastern part of the DRC.
The summit expressed concern and solidarity on the latest security developments in eastern DRC, and mandated the chairperson of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ, supported by the Organ Troika FIB Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs), to engage the UN Secretary General on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September 2022, to explore all avenues to improve the security situation.
The summit also discussed the security situation in Lesotho and Eswatini, noting with approval that general elections are scheduled in Lesotho for 07 October 2022.
Further security issues included the situation in the western Indian Ocean, offshore the African continent. In this regard, the summit noted the establishment of an anti-terrorism unit in Tanzania.
The SADC Regional Counter Terrorism Centre (SADC-RCTC) in Tanzania is an institution that coordinates counter terrorism activities in the region. The summit urged Member States to strengthen cooperation and information sharing on terrorism, radicalism and violent extremism.
The summit adopted the Memorandum of Agreement between Member States to establish a Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre and referred it to the ministers responsible for Disaster Risk Management for signing.
