BuaNews (Tshwane)
Nthambeleni Gabara
20 July 2008
Durban — The Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting for foreign affairs ministers is expected to make concrete security proposals for the region on Sunday.
Speaking at the meeting, which kicked-off on Friday in Durban, Foreign Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said delegates will deliberate on issues concerning the police force, defence force, public security and state security sectors and find solutions to them.
Also on the agenda will be discussions on the operationalisation of the SADC Brigade that was launched on 17 August 2007 at a SADC Summit.
Delegates will also deliberate about the launching of the Regional Early Warning centre scheduled for December 2008.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs the gathering will also focus on Interstate Politics and Diplomacy issues which include areas of concern such as the political situation in Malawi and the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"These will also cover the mediation process by Sir Ketumile Masire in the Kingdom of Lesotho and the post electoral situation in the Republic of Zimbabwe," the department stated.
The SADC ministers are also expected to prepare a report for the Chair of the Organ, Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.
Mr Dos Santos will present the report at the SADC Summit scheduled for August in South Africa.
Speaking at the meeting KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sibusiso Ndebele said the future of the region and the entire continent lies in peace and stability.
He said once the fundamental goals can be achieved, they will be security in communities, economic prosperity, growth and development.
"Unity in all the sectors of commerce, trade, spatial development and security operations all contribute to our overall mission of NEPAD and an African Renaissance," he said.
Mr Ndebele said in spite of the continued Afro-pessimism and other challenges Africans have the collective will to deal decisively with any problem facing them.
"We have proved that ability time and again through the struggles for liberation and this forum is one of the new platforms for reaching new frontiers.
"We have therefore a number of strategic engagements under the auspices of trans-frontier relations with Maputo and Lesotho in crime prevention programmes," he said.
Presently, SADC sub-region has signed 22 protocols, which cover the entire spectrum of human security.
Directly focusing on security are protocols on illicit drug trafficking, the control of firearms and ammunition, among others.
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The greatest thing to come out of these meetings would be to change the prevailing worldview completely,become super poactive and not reactive.