Regional leaders will focus mostly on SADC’s troubled peacekeeping mission in the DRC when they meet for an Extra-Ordinary Summit in Harare next week, an official says.
The Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) has been operating in the DRC since December, with the mandate to engage armed groups in the East of the country. The mission has been held back by a lack of resources and troops.
The meetings in Harare open on Sunday, November 17, with a committee of ministers of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, chaired by Tanzania, says Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Albert Chimbindi. This will be followed by meetings of the Finance Committee, the SADC Council of Ministers, and the Ministerial Committee of the Organ Troika. Heads of State will meet on November 20.
“An extraordinary summit speaks about a specific issue and among the top issues to be discussed is the mandate of the mission in DRC, which is set to expire soon,” Chimbindi told Sunday Mail. “So, the summit will review it to see if the mandate of the mission can be renewed.”
SADC’s mission in DRC committed to deploy up to 5,000 soldiers, but only 1,300 are on the ground, reports say. The Mission has also only raised less than half the US$500 million budget for the deployment, with South Africa putting up US$100 million and the DRC US$200 million.
Also on the agenda are recent elections in Mozambique, Mauritius and Botswana, plus upcoming polls in Namibia. There have been protests in the aftermath of the Mozambique elections, resulting in at least 18 deaths and the closure of the busy border with South Africa.
This would be the fourth time since October last year that SADC leaders are meeting at an Extra-Ordinary Summit.
