The summit elected the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, for the position of Acting President of SADC, João Lourenço, of Angola, for the position of the next president of SADC, according to a note released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the 42nd Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of Southern Africa, which took place this Wednesday in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo), the leaders took "note of the preparations underway" in Angola and the Lesotho to hold general and parliamentary elections on 24 August 2022 and 7 October, respectively, and took "vows for the holding of peaceful elections".
"The summit saluted the Republic of Zambia for the successful holding of general elections in August 2021 and the subsequent peaceful transition of power," reads the same note.
On the other hand, the regional organization "expressed concern and solidarity in relation to the latest security events in eastern DRCongo, and mandated the chairman of the body's ministerial committee to, with the assistance of the body's troika and the Troop Contributing Countries, the FIB (TCC), to maintain contacts with the UN Secretary General on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September 2022 to explore all ways to support efforts to improve the security situation".
On Eswatini, the summit condemned "the acts of violence" and will prepare an extraordinary summit of the troika plus the kingdom of Eswatini, "on a date to be determined, with the aim of seeking a peaceful and lasting solution to the security challenges that the country faces".
The leaders also welcomed the creation of the SADC Regional Counter-Terrorism Center (CRCT) in Tanzania, "as an institution that coordinates counter-terrorism activities in the region" and Member States should "strengthen cooperation and sharing of information on terrorism, radicalism and violent extremism," the statement said.
During this Wednesday's meeting, the SACD countries also adopted and signed "the Protocol to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, which defines a framework for cooperation between Member States in the fight against trafficking in human beings and transnational crime." organized and associated cross-border activity in the region".
The "constant threats to maritime security" are another matter of concern for the regional organization, as they "affect the region's development aspirations, in particular those emerging in the western part of the Indian Ocean", with member countries being urged to accelerate the implementation of the SADC Maritime Integrated Strategy and Plan of Action.
SADC members, in addition to the Portuguese-speaking Angola and Mozambique, also include Botswana, Comoros, DRCongo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
