The Southern African Development Community (SADC) yesterday condemned the attempted coup d'état on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In its communiqué of the Extraordinary Virtual Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government on El Niño induced drought and floods virtually held yesterday, the summit strongly condemned the attempted coup d'état by a group of national and foreign terrorists to destabilise the democratic institutions in the DRC.
The failed government overthrow happened after gunmen tried to attack the home of senior officials of the DRC authority including that of President Félix Tshisekedi.
In its explanation, it reaffirmed its categorical opposition to any unconstitutional changes of the government.
Equally, the Summit expressed its solidarity with the Congolese people and reiterated SADC's commitment to actively support the efforts of the DRC authorities to safeguard its territorial integrity and sovereignty and ensure the security of its population.
According to the communiqué, the summit acknowledged the expression of gratitude by DRC President Tshisekedi for the SADC's solidarity with the DRC in light of the attempted coup d'état.
The Summit was chaired by President of Angola João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, in his capacity as the Chairperson of SADC.
Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa joined the virtual summit on behalf of the President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan from the Prime Minister Hall in Dodoma.
"While condemning this act of violence, SADC wishes to extend its appreciation to the DRC army for having arrested the perpetrators and ceased any escalation that could have occurred from this unfortunate incident," read the statement.
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In a related development, the Summit expressed gratitude for the selfless contribution to the SADC region by the late President of the Republic of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingob, and welcomed the fourth President of Namibia Dr Nangolo Mbumba to SADC.
According to the communiqué, the summit received an update on the recent climate and weather situation in the region, and their impacts on its socio-economic development including their effect on basic commodity prices. It urged member states to continue to monitor the situation and provide an enabling environment for agricultural stakeholders, including farmers with surplus grain and vegetables to facilitate access to those in need.
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The summit noted the multifaceted and cascading impact of the El Niño induced drought and floods across multiple sectors, including agriculture and livelihood security, food security, nutrition, health, water and energy and called for coordinated, integrated, and harmonised interventions to address the adverse impact of El Niño.
The summit received a report on the impact of disasters in the region and expressed concern over the humanitarian situation brought about by El Niño-induced drought and floods, which has affected over 61 million people.
The summit launched the SADC Regional Humanitarian Appeal of at least 5.5 billion US dollars (about 14.2tri/-) aimed at augmenting domestic resources of the affected Member States, including efforts for resource mobilisation from national, regional, and international partners in response to the impacts of El Niño induced drought and floods.
Meanwhile, at the summit, Prime Minister Majaliwa said Tanzania strongly supports SADC's efforts in inverting modern methods of harvesting rain water, controlling floods as well as strengthening rain water ponds infrastructures, so that it could be effectively used during drought periods.
The recommendations forwarded to the summit were made during the SADC Ministerial meeting, outlining measures to be taken to mitigate effects of floods, harvesting rain water and strengthening rain water ponds infrastructures through the support from SADC Secretariat, River basin organisations (RBOs) and developments stakeholders.
Other recommendations made during the meeting include to strengthen Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and improve Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
