Martin Endjala
President Hage Geingob will be attending the 42nd SADC Heads of State and Governments Summit in the Democratic Republic of Congo that starts tomorrow. The president returns on Thursday.
The Troika is the regional body’s instrument to take quick decisions on behalf of SADC that would ordinarily have be taken at policy meetings scheduled at regular intervals, as well as the power to provide policy direction to SADC institutions in between regular SADC Summits.
President Geingob will be taking over that responsibility from the current chair, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Each year a different chairperson is endorsed from the 16 SADC countries on a rotational basis.
The SADC chair will be taken over by DRC President and the host of summit Fèlix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo from the outgoing chairperson, President of Malawi Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera.
The summit is convened under the theme ‘’Promoting Industrialization through Agro-processing, Mineral Beneficiation and Regional Value Chains for Inclusive and Resilient Economic Growth’’. The summit will be briefed by the Troika’s chair tonight about security and consolidation democracy in the region.
It is also understood that the summit will be seeking answers and solutions to the ongoing civil wars in the DRC and Mozambique through coming up with new interventions to see how best to resolve the conflicts.
Just this week the East African Community has agreed that Burundi send in troops into the DRC to smoke out the rebel forces from the thick jungles of the mineral rich country.
President Geingob together with the deputy chair and the outgoing one will have their hands full with regional conflict in central and east Africa, as well as the simmering political instability in Lesotho. According to a statement on the website of SADC, the summit will review progress on Regional Integration in line with SADC’s aspirations, in which peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle-to high-income industrialised region is envisaged for all its citizens to enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice, and freedom.
The 42nd SADC Summit will be preceded by the following meetings and events:
9 – 11 August, 2022: Meeting of Standing Committee of Senior Officials and Finance Committee Meetings,
13 – 14 August, 2022: Meeting of SADC Council of Ministers,
16 August: SADC Organ Troika Summit.
