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By Ross Moyo
During SADC’s extraordinary virtual summit on Thursday, President Mnangagwa as Chair of SADC mentioned about the bloc’ bold decision of withdrawing from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and today continued their meeting which will also decide on the next Heads of State and Government Summit.
The SADC Chair said, “On the basis of well-considered factors and reflections on the initial mandate, this Extraordinary SADC Summit has made the bold decision to withdraw our mission from the eastern DRC.
By Ross Moyo
“The withdrawal of SAMIDRC notwithstanding, our august regional body will remain seized with the political and security situation in eastern DRC.”
The Head of State called for the implementation of decisions made at the first joint SADC-EAC meeting.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Permanent Secretary Ambassador Albert Chimbindi On the joint ministers’ meeting in
held in Harare today, said:”The joint SADC-EAC Council of Ministers meeting will be held on March 17 and this meeting will then come up with a date for the joint Heads of State and Government summit.”
Chimbindi said both regional blocs had already begun implementing resolutions from previous meetings, including those of their Chiefs of Defence Forces (CDFs).
EAC CDFs met in Nairobi, Kenya, on February 21, while their SADC counterparts held a similar meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The SADC Secretariat confirmed in a statement the ministerial meeting scheduled for today.
“The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) on March 17, 2025 will hold their joint meeting of the Council of Ministers to discuss the security situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe,” said the body.
The eastern DRC crisis has drawn international attention, with the United Nations Security Council recently commending SADC and EAC for their mediation efforts.
United Nations (UN) strongly condemned the ongoing M23 rebel offensive and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
United Nations Security Council further demanded that M23 withdraw from all occupied areas, dismantle its parallel administrations and cease all activities undermining peace in the DRC also calling on Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) to halt support for M23 and withdraw from Congolese territory without conditions.
The SAMIDRC suffered some setbacks after at least 19 soldiers from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania, who were part of the peacekeeping contingent, were killed when the M23 captured the region’s biggest city, Goma, in January.
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