The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will not accept any unconstitutional change of government in the region, and reserves the right to intervene in such an event, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Monday.
Pahad led the South African delegation to a SADC Inter-State Politics and Diplomacy Committee meeting of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, in Lusaka, Zambia on Friday.
In a statement on Monday, Pahad said the meeting was very constructive and took important decisions that would make a major contribution to peace and stability on the continent, and to democracy, good governance and anti-corruption.
The meeting expressed concern at the recent developments in Bukava in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other parts of the eastern region of that country, which could revive the cycle of violence and impact negatively on the peace process.
In addition, the meeting condemned the attempted coup in Kinshasa last week.
Pahad said the meeting reaffirmed SADC would not accept any unconstitutional change of government in the region, and warned that it had a collective understanding to maintain the security and political stability of the region within the framework of the protocol on Political, Defence and Security Co-operation and the Mutual Defence Pact.
”The meeting warned any possible coup plotter that SADC reserved the right to intervene against any unconstitutional change of government,” he said.
The meeting decided to send a delegation to help normalise and stabilise the situation and to support efforts to ensure that the agreements were implemented. — Sapa