Conference Centre, Maputo, August 17, 2012)
***
The heads of states or their representatives of the 16 member states
of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held their 32nd
ordinary summit at Maputo, Mozambique, on August 17 and 18.
The regional bloc's summit was hailed for blasting Rwanda's aggression
of DRC; criticized for its slow pace in resolving the ongoing
political crises in Zimbabwe and Madagascar; and bemoaned for barring
access to the SADC Tribunal to citizens and civil society.
The heads of states summit came on the heels of SADC council of ministers.
Talking to the press on August 15, South African Foreign Minister
Maite Nkoane-Mashabane summed up the negative impact of insecurity
(DRC) and democracy crisis (Madagascar & Zim) on SADC countries:
"SADC will never achieve regional development and true integration
without regional stability and democratic governance."
In the summit final communiqué, read on August 18 by SADC Executive
Secretary Tomaz Augusto Salomão, the regional bloc condemned Rwanda
for its support of M23:
"On DRC, Summit noted with great concern that the security situation
in the Eastern part of DRC has deteriorated in the last three (3)
months, causing displacement of people and loss of lives and property.
"Summit also noted that this is being perpetrated by rebel groups with
assistance of Rwanda, and urged the latter to cease immediately its
interference that constitutes a threat to peace
and stability, not only of the DRC, but also of the SADC Region."
But strangely, on this same Congo conflict, SADC also wants its
"secretariat to collaborate with the International Conference of the
Great Lakes Region [ICGLR]Secretariat in pursuit of peace and security
in the Eastern DRC."
I've said it already here. Nothing positive for the DRC would ever
issue from the ICGLR, at the core of which the worst enemies of the
Congolese people--Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda--have built their nest
of vipers.
This kind of dereliction of duty, as it were, risks turning SADC into
an irrelevant forum.
An annual "talk-shop characterised by high-sounding" resolutions
without any concrete takeaways, as Njabulo Ncube of the Zimbabwean
weekly Financial Gazette rightly surmises in an article titled "Maputo
SADC Summit, another talk shop."
What the DRC needs right now is not empty talk, but tons of weapons
and urgent training of battle-ready troops as well as direct military
assistance.
Besides the DRC, the summit also dwelt at length on the Zimbabwean and
Malagasy political crises.
Zim journos report that PM Morgan Tsvangirai was left to left to kick
his heels in the lobby as the heads of states held their first
closed-session meeting.
Tsvangirai was so incensed he left Maputo without saying goodbye.
(Another leader to leave precipitately was President Jacob Zuma in the
wake of the Marikani massacre.)
What's more, SADC failed to resolve once and for all the political
crisis in Madagascar that has been simmering since the 2009 coup
staged by current president Andry Rajoelina.
The SADC proposal of "neither...nor"--that is, neither Rajoelina nor
deposed president Marc Ravalomanana will run for the next presidential
election--is a bitter pill to swallow for both parties.
Backers of Rajoelina are already questioning the impartiality of
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, elected as Chair of the
influential SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation,
just vacated by President Jacob Zuma.
They claim Kikwete is pro-Ravalomanana. But the latter's supporters
are in turn accusing SADC of being a private club of incumbent heads
of states and, as such, it is, as a body, pro-Rajoelina.
More damning, this charge of "privatization" of the bloc by southern
African presidents is now being echoed by the civil society leaders of
member states.
They charge that the SADC Tribunal has now been put out of reach of
common people by the Maputo Summit.
In other words, SADC citizens can't file lawsuit to bring their
leaders or institutions to account, despite the pressure of the "Save
SADC Tribunal" campaign that Archbishop Desmond Tutu joined.
Paragraph 24 of the Final Communiqué of the Maputo Summit sounds the
death knell of the wishful thinking of "Save SADC Tribunal" campaign
and its supporters of the ilk of Archbishop Tutu by stating that:
"[The] mandate [of the Tribunal] should be confined to interpretation
of the SADC Treaty and Protocols relating to disputes between Member
States."
Reacting to Paragraph 24 of the SADC Final Communiqué, the
Johannesburg-based Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) issued, on
August 20, a press release that quoted its Director, Nicole Fritz, as
saying that:
"The decision to deny the region's inhabitants any access to the
Tribunal is astounding and entirely
without any lawful basis.
[...]
"Civil society groups were worried that SADC leaders would conspire to
weaken the Tribunal but this is far worse than we had feared. SADC has
destroyed it.
"The decision flies in the face of the recommendations of both the
SADC-instituted review of the Tribunal and SADC's own Ministers
of Justice and Attorneys General.
"It is also completely at odds with the best practice of other
regional institutions and undermines the protection of human rights
and hopes for future economic growth and development.
"Our leaders have shown their contempt for all of us in southern
Africa and for the rule of law.
"Not only did they deny the region's citizens access to the Tribunal
but Member States almost
never bring legal cases against each other so the court will be a
complete waste of taxpayers' money."
***
(Page Address of SADC Maputo Summit Final Communiqué:
www.sadc.int/files/7713/4545/0483/Communique_32nd_Summit_of_Heads_of_States.pdf)
***
(Page Addree of SALC PRESS RELEASE:
www.southernafricalawcenter.org/news/item/News_Release_SADC_Leaders_Deal_Fatal_Blow_to_SADC_Tribunal_Shock_Decision_Denies_Citizen_s_Access_to_Court)
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PHOTO CREDITS: Via: 25.media.tumblr.com & tumifromjoburg.tumblr.com
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