The international community has been called upon to assist the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in its peace-building initiatives, the office of Botswana President Festus Mogae said on Monday.
The call was made by the Botswana/Zimbabwe Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security, Mogae said in a statement.
No details were given as to the kind of assistance that might be required.
”The commission, meeting in Botswana last week [October 10 to 14] was examining the security situation in the Southern African Development Community [SADC] region with particular emphasis on developments in Angola and the DRC,” Mogae said.
”On the situation in Angola, the commission had expressed hope that the general elections scheduled for 2006 would entrench that country’s democracy.”
The meeting had also noted with satisfaction that the SADC Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe, which was officially handed to the SADC secretariat in August 2005, was now fully operational.
Reports from Zambia say the 22nd meeting of the permanent joint commission of defence, public and state security between Angola and Zambia, to be held in Angola during this week, will seek to increase cooperation in defence matters.
The 14 member states of SADC are Angola, Botswana, the DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. — Sapa