29 Nov 2020

 President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has called for an integrated and coordinated regional approach to effectively deal with imminent threats.

  Officially opening the SADC extraordinary Organ Troika summit on November 27, Dr Masisi said the region was threatened by  issues of terrorism, insurgencies, cybercrime and transnational organised crime. 

   The President, who is SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation chairperson, said there was an urgent need to deal with the threats, particularly terrorism,  which had been identified as the most serious threat by the Assessment of Security Threats to the SADC region report. 

  Stressing the importance of peace and security, he said they were a strong pedestal for deepening political cooperation, cohesion towards regional integration and socio-economic development. 

President Masisi said SADC Vision 2050 and Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) recognised that peace, security and stability were not only complementary but preconditions for national, regional and global development.

He commended SADC member states for individually and collectively tightening efforts to ensure that the bloc’s aspirations and priorities were fully realised.

For her part, SADC executive secretary Dr Stergomena Lawrence -Tax said the summit noted with concern the acts of terrorism in the region, particularly in the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique.

 The summit therefore directed comprehensive regional response and support to Mozambique, she said. 

Dr Tax said the summit had accepted the United Nations’  proposal to realign current Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) troops strength to create headroom for the Quick Reaction Forces (QRFs) and generate two QRFs from SADC troop contributing countries. 

The summit was attended by incoming Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation chairperson, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, President Felix Tshisekedi of Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera.

Tanzanian vice president Ms Samina Hassan and Mozambique’s Minister of Defence Mr Jaime Neto also attended the summit.ends