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Southern Africa: SADC Ministers to Get Cracking On Regional Peacekeeping Force
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Wilson Johwa
Johannesburg
LITTLE has been heard of the Southern African Development Community (SADC ) standby force since its launch last year.
The brigade will however be the subject of discussion this weekend when SADC ministers meet to plan for its activation in preparation for deployment on peacekeeping missions.
The meeting in Durban will be chaired by Angola, the present head of the SADC organ on politics, defence and security, which is responsible for the unit. The organ's recommendations will be made to the SADC summit scheduled for next month when President Thabo Mbeki is expected to take over the chairmanship of the 14-member regional body from Angolan head of state Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.
At its launch during the previous SADC summit in Lusaka, the SADC brigade comprised 564 soldiers from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, SA , Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The force was constituted under the African Union's (AU's) protocol on peace and security, which required all regional economic communities to have units that fed into the standby army. So far, the Economic Community of West African States is the other regional bloc that has made the most progress.
Although meant for peacekeeping operations rather than intervention in member states, the African standby force may do so subject to a two-thirds majority vote among AU heads of state and government. It can also deploy at the invitation of an African government.
Head of the Institute for Security Studies Jakkie Cilliers said that the SADC brigade had been delayed by the situation in Zimbabwe which "undermined trust and confidence in the region".
The weekend meeting will also discuss regional peace initiatives, especially in Zimbabwe, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lesotho, where former Botswana president Ketumile Masire is mediating.
It will also plan for the launch of a regional early warning centre, scheduled for December. Cilliers said unlike similar centres in Africa, the SADC facility was designed to use information provided by national intelligence agencies -- a problematic arrangement which ignores the fact that sometimes governments themselves are a source of insecurity.
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"It is important that mechanisms be found to complement state intelligence with analysis that relates to human security," he said.
The trouble with "standbuy" forces is that is all they seem to do in any situation just "standbuy",garnering political points only.
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