by Patson Phiri – SANF 06 No 17
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is putting in place mechanisms to assist some member states to consolidate peace processes and to address insecurity emanating from small arms proliferation and internally displaced persons.
Acting director of SADC’s politics, defence and security affairs directorate, João Machatine Ndhlovu told a media briefing ahead of the Council of Ministers meeting in Botswana that, while countries have successfully moved from the civil war, the challenge remains to deal with the legacy.
“As a post-conflict region, there are challenges to the consolidation of peace. These include completing the return of refugees and internally displaced people, family reunion, proper accounting of weapons used during the conflicts and also collection and destruction of surplus, obsolete or outlawed artefacts,” Ndhlovu said.
To this end, the regional bloc is putting in place an ambitious programme to restore the integrity of internally displaced people and refugees.
Ndhlovu cited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola and Mozambique as countries that are still in transition from wars that caused displacement and loss of family unity.
President Joseph Kabila is prodding the international community to speed up the creation of a safer DRC to enable the people benefit from the peace and abundant natural resources.
Kabila’s special advisor Professor Mbadu Khonde Leon called for quick actions from the SADC member states to help to restore family values that remain compromised several years after the end of the largescale hostilities in the countries that are transiting from the wars.
“We still think this a very serious problem. The movements by the people are limited. Agriculture has been affected and this has reduced the size of the habitable land in these countries,” said Leon, who is a member of the Congolese delegation at the Council of Ministers meeting.
“Even mining areas are a high risk for the people,” he said, there is “no exploration and agriculture because people have got no confidence.”
Major parts of DRC still remain as high-risky zones with landmines that were planted by warlords during the civil war. The worst affected areas are Kisangani, Ituri, Ruwenzori in Equator province and the eastern parts of Kasai.
A SADC team of experts has already visited DRC to assess the extent of the problem following an earlier visit by the SADC executive secretary, Tomaz Augusto Salomão, when President Kabila appealed for assistance with de-mining.
DRC special advisor to the minister of regional cooperation, Salima Kabagambe said the SADC team was in DRC from 29 November to 7 December in response to the appeal.
Apart from Angola, DRC and Mozambique, the other countries that are still battling with landmines in some areas, mostly planted during the struggle for independence, are South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
