OWN CORRESPONDENT, Grande Baie | Sunday 8.00PM.
THE Southern African Development Community’s annual summit opened in Grand Baie in northern Mauritius on Sunday afternoon, with the opening addresses focusing on economic issues and regional conflict.
President Nelson Mandela, who chairs SADC, expressed deep distress at the re-emergence of violent conflict in Angola. “We have great confidence in the initiatives of the United nations in seeking the resolution of the Angolan crisis and we therefore call for the rigorous implementation of the UN security council sanctions to oblige Unita fully to implement the Lusaka peace protocol,” he said.
Mandela said he was encouraged by the progress that had been made in seeking peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and stressed the need for the co-ordination of peace-seeking initiatives.
He also expressed concern at the high debt levels most SADC countries faced.
Angolan President Jos Eduardo dos Santos, one of the last heads of state to arrive at the opening ceremony, lashed out at Unita leader Jonas Savimbi, whom he said did not want peace in Angola. He accused Savimbi of using the peace accord to buy time to reorganise his forces and said the Unita leader was involved in efforts to overthrow DRC President Laurent Kabila.
Kabila, who was scheduled to be one of the opening speakers at the summit, had not arrived by the time the opening ceremony was over, but was reported to be on his way. The DRC government insists the rebellion in his country is an invasion by neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda, niether of which ais an SADC member. Kabila is expected to use the summit to ask all 14 SADC countries to condemn the “invasion”.
The future of the suspended Southern African Development Community’s organ on politics, defence and security is expected to be discussed at closed-door discussions to be held on Monday, the final day of the summit.
Tension has been brewing for some time between South Africa, which wants the organ to be an integral part of SADC, and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who chairs the organ and wants it to have autonomy.