Southern Africa: SADC Asks Us for Inclusion in DR Congo Peace Talks

THE Southern African Development Community (SADC) has asked the US government to include the regional bloc in discussing peace and stability in the Great Lakes Region and DR Congo.The request follows reports that Rwanda government had sidelined SADC and sought audience with the US Secretary of State Mr John Kerry to discuss events in the region.

Speaking to Journalists after the SADC meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO) which closed yesterday in Dar es Salaam, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe confirmed about the request.

Sources told the ‘Sunday News’ yesterday that Rwanda had plotted to sideline SADC, in the meeting to be hosted by the US. “It is likely that there is a scheme to sideline SADC,” the source said. The source further said that Rwanda has circulated a letter to members of the Security Council criticising the deployment of intervention brigade in DRC.

“Rwanda claims that the deployment was a strategy to destabilise it,” said the source. Some diplomats from the Great Lakes Region told this paper that they were surprised how such a meeting could take place without SADC being involved.

“SADC is one of the main stakeholders in the peace and security of DRC,” said the source. Meanwhile the outgoing SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Tomaz Salomao said that the deployment of the intervention brigade in the DRC has fared very well.

He told reporters at the Mwalimu Nyerere Conference Centre after the meeting that the Tanzania battalion was already on the ground. He also said that South Africa battalion was now being deployed. “However, the battalion from Malawi will complete deployment by end of August,” he said.

He also said that it is high time that problems facing the region be resolved so that SADC can focus on development. Meanwhile a senior anchor for Tele 50 TV Channel based in Kinshasa, Mr Pathy Nkieri said after the deployment of intervention brigade, Goma and its surrounding areas have stabilised. “People in DRC are happy and secured after the SADC intervention brigade deployment.

Tanzania Daily News