President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead a South African delegation to the 42nd Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to be held in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo next week.
Ramaphosa who is the current chairperson of SADC Organ on Politics, Security and Defence will be tabling a report on the deployment of SADC troops in Mozambique. The province of Cabo Delgado has experienced continuous attacks by insurgents who have been terrorising the region since 2017.
South Africa’s minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Naledi Pandor, says the attacks are still continuing and the leaders of the SADC nations will discuss this security challenge.
“We are going to report on the progress that has been made with respect to the promised deployment as well as a provision of support to our personnel from the various SADC countries as well as the bilateral partnership that Mozambique has with Rwanda – they have been working closely with our SADC forces,” says the minister.
Pandor chairs SADC Ministerial Meeting:
Pandor notes that the terror groups in the region continue to operate in Mozambique’s northern province and are harming communities. She says the inter-governmental organisation will look at further steps and interventions that may be available to deal with this issue.
In May, she spoke at a ceremony commemorating the African Union’s 20th anniversary where she expressed unhappiness with the slow response of the SADC countries in intervening in the issue of insurgency Mozambique.
This year’s SADC Summit will be themed Promoting industrialisation through, agro-processing, mineral beneficiation, and regional value chains for inclusive and resilient economic growth, and will review progress on Regional Integration in line with SADC’s aspirations as outlined in the organisations Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020-2030 as well as Vision 2050, which both envisage a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle-to high-income industrialised Region where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice, and freedom.
#SADC to hold 42nd Summit in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on 17 – 18 August 2022 https://t.co/IAK1YmIxWQ… @EliasMagosi @sardcnet @southerntimesa @DRC_Cord
@BWGovernment @GovMauritius @MoFA_ZW @ForeignMalawi @namibia_mfa @DIRCO_ZA pic.twitter.com/zCKtQlrgJl— SADC Secretariat (@SADC_News) August 9, 2022
