adminTHE SADC Extra-Ordinary Summit held in Harare under the chairmanship of President Mnangagwa this week has firmly recommitted itself to supporting the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and doing all it can to bring peace to the eastern region of that country.
The eastern DRC is the last conflict zone in SADC and needs a multiple approach of diplomacy, negotiation and manpower deployments to resolve. SADC, through former chair Angolan President João Lourenço, has played an active role in bringing, through diplomatic efforts, solutions to the underlying causes of conflict.
The deployment of the SADC Mission in the DRC, SAMIDRC, with troops from Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa, has along with an associated UN mission, helped to monitor those cease fires that have been arranged and generally see what can be done to hold the ring in the three provinces of North and South Kivu and Ituri while the diplomacy continues.
SADC backed that mission fully at the summit, granting it another year since the first year, now coming to a close, had been successful. This requires not only the continued commitment of the three countries that are supplying the troops, but as President Mnangagwa has made clear, the rest of us have to fulfil our financial commitments, even though some outside monetary support is likely considering that the whole process is working, at least better than any previous effort.
As the President noted in his chairperson’s addresses, the conflict is not insoluble, just very difficult, and so SADC has to remain committed to sorting out its own regional issues. We would note that the totally unrelated conflict in northeast Mozambique, where there was just a warlord problem, was largely sorted out by SADC being decisive and taking effective action.
The eastern DRC conflict is far more complex, with several armed groups operating in the area, often in conflict with each other and with shifting alliances. One complication is that one of the armed groups, or collections of groups, is of Rwandan origin, being made up of some of those responsible for the 1990s genocide who fled into DRC, as well as more typical warlord problems that can arise in insecure areas.
The Luanda peace process headed by President Lourenco did see in July a ceasefire agreement between the DRC and Rwanda. This ceasefire has held, and has led to more meetings between DRC and Rwandan officials and ministers with the Angolans.
The idea is to build the process towards a permanent resolution, at least of the national issues.
But there are conflicting armed groups not under any national control that muddy the waters and create the sort of conflict that has seen 6,5 million people displaced from their homes. This is the multi-problem that faces the DRC and SADC. While the diplomatic offensive is being conducted out of the public gaze, it is fairly obvious that President Lourenco is looking at sorting out national security concerns, so that the warlord problem can then be isolated and dealt with through the normal national thrust of the DRC, backed by SADC.
The Extra-Ordinary Summit was held behind closed doors, as such summits must since the SADC leaders are looking for solutions, not grandstanding, but President Mnangagwa, in his public comments, made it clear that SADC must be effective and must not betray the trust that the people of the eastern DRC have shown in their regional organisation.
In his public comments, the SADC Executive Secretary, Mr Elias Magosi, noted that a purely military solution was not possible, the cost alone being prohibitive, but the diplomacy that has already shown results through the Luanda process must be extended and must form the main thrust of the process of bringing permanent peace.
This seems obvious, since military solutions are rarely permanent while diplomatic solutions can remove at least the major causes of conflict, and then pure criminal freelancers can be dealt with.
Many SADC leaders have good relations with both the DRC and its eastern neighbours, and Mr Magosi appeared to be suggesting that this fortunate position could be used to back the SADC diplomatic offensive. Obviously multiple diplomatic initiatives would be dangerous, but we see no problem in everyone who could help offering their services to President Lourenco.
Generally, when there is conflict involving armed groups along a border or in border regions, there is a desire by all peace lovers for a secure border, so there is no overflow and no informal bases and sanctuaries.
That removes a lot of temptations to interfere and isolates warlords and terrorist groups and can also cut off flows of arms if the borders are secured, as Mozambique showed.
SADC, at its Extra-Ordinary Summit, has presented a solid front, to both back the people of the DRC and to make that backing effective by extending SAMIDRC, helping to provide a shield, while the diplomacy that has already shown significant progress can be intensified.
Online Reporter