SADC focusing on DRC, Lesotho

LUANDA: Angolan President Joao Lourenco yesterday said the expansion and consolidation of democracy and fundamental freedoms in southern Africa was ensuring the inclusion of all sectors of society in the effort to develop the sub-region.

Lourenco was speaking as chairperson of the SADC Political, Defence and Security Co-operation body at the opening ceremony of the extraordinary summit of the heads of state and governments of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is discussing, among others, the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lesotho.

He said that therefore one had to have the courage to face, without hesitation, the problems and their causes for the implementation of genuine solutions.

In Luanda, the SADC Double Troika Summit is being led by the Angolan president and bringing together the leaders of Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, the DRC, King Mswati of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) Kingdom, the prime minister of Lesotho and a representative fromTanzania.

The political situation in the DRC and Lesotho is the main item on the agenda of the Double Troika Summit, which will also discuss the consolidation of democracy in the southern region of the continent.

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a SADC member country that is in political crisis, aggravated by the murder of two heads of its armed forces by subordinates in 2015 and 2017, prompting the authorities to request intervention by SADC.

In the DRC, preparations are under way for the next elections.

Lourenco had participated in a tripartite summit between Angola, Congo and DRC in February in Kinshasa, which evaluated the preparations for the DRC elections, postponed from December 31, 2017, to December 23 this year.

The postponement of the election process led the opposition to demand the departure of President Joseph Kabila, who, in the light of the constitution, is prevented from running for a new term.

SADC is also discussing the situation in Madagascar, which is expected to hold general elections later this year. – Xinhua