A PLAM to prevent and end conflicts within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was brought a step closer on Friday with the adoption of a draft mutual defence pact. Defence ministers from 10 of 14 SADC countries approved the draft at the end of a two-day meeting in Maseru, Lesotho, said South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota. Lekota said the pact would provide a mechanism to prevent conflict between SADC countries as well as with other countries, and for SADC countries to act together against outside aggressors. It would allow for SADC intervention in intra-state conflicts that had the potential to affect the stability of the whole region, he said. The SADC member states present were Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius and Seychelles were absent. – AFP