MOZAMBICAN Defence Minister Tobias Dhai called on Thursday on his counterparts from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Maputo to work together to solve common security problems. “The continuing threat to peace and security in our region demands permanent consultations and collective response,” Dhai said at the opening of a three-day SADC meeting on defence and security. He told the ministers that threats to regional stability included not only military aggression but also drugs and arms trafficking, natural disasters, the HIV/Aids pandemic, poverty and illiteracy. High on the agenda of the meeting are the civil wars in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both member states of the 14-nation community. The DRC is not represented at the meeting. The Angolan government has been fighting Unita rebels led by Jonas Savimbi since 1975. “SADC has declared Unita leader Jonas Savimbi a war criminal besides implementing United Nations sanctions against the rebel movement,” Angolan defence official Andre Mendes de Calvalho said. Analysts say that some SADC member states have already taken steps to resolve their problems jointly. They point to the case of Mozambique and South Africa, whose police forces have been working together in searching for weapons in Mozambique. The combined forces destroyed a total of more than 300 guns — mostly AK47 rifles — discovered in arms caches in Mozambique last month.