SADC TODAY FA August
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Southern African Development Community Vol. 6 No. 3 August 2003 From Luanda to Dar es Salaam: SADC’s 23rd Summit by Munetsi Madakufamba hen SADC leaders met last ile, has markedly improved with the the number in need of food aid in the year at the annual summit in transitional government now in place region at six million. WLuanda, Angola, the region and the stage set for multi-party elec- HIV and AIDS, which has topped the was celebrating the return to peace in tions. It is expected that current hostil- SADC agenda in recent years, is anoth- the host country. President José ities in the east of the country should er issue that President dos Santos prom- Eduardo dos Santos in his speech as cease, especially given that the leaders ised to give high priority to. A special new SADC chairperson outlined his of the warring parties have accepted summit was convened in Maseru in July vision for his one-year term at the and taken up their positions in the under his chair. A landmark declaration helm of the 14-member organisation transitional government. was adopted and signed by all member and predicted that the region would be In Angola, peace continues to take states. (See pages 4 and 5 for excerpts of more peaceful by the next summit. root, with government now raising the declaration). From 19-27 August 2003, the United resources for a general election. The restructuring of SADC institu- Republic of Tanzania will host the 23th Although peace in the enclave of tions, which started in 2001, is nearing annual SADC Summit of Heads of Cabinda is still delicate, the stability in completion, with all directorates hav- State and Government, at the Golden the other 17 provinces from Zaire in the ing been formally established at the Tulip Hotel with the official opening north to Cunene in the south should Secretariat in Botswana. The direc- and closing ceremonies at the Diamond enable the government to devote more torates, four in total, are the new struc- Jubilee Hall (once the seat of parlia- energy to the volatile oil-rich province. tures representing 21 sectors previous- ment). Officials from the 14 SADC Food security, a major worry as at ly coordinated by member states. member states will meet first, then the last summit, has significantly The Regional Indicative Strategic Ministers, and finally the Heads of State improved. As of end of 2002, nearly Development Plan, the 15-year blue- and Government from 25 to 26 August. 15 million people in six countries – print which spells out the implementa- More than 700 delegates are expected. Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, tion framework of the restructured As he hands over the chair to Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe – organisation, is being finalised with Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, were at high risk of starvation. member states having reviewed the President dos Santos can point at a However, improved rainfall and working document adopted by Council number of positive developments dur- swift responses and measures undertak- at a meeting in Luanda in March 2003. ing the last 12 months. en by individual countries, the region, With all its structures and institu- The situation in the Democratic the UN and other agencies, saved the tions in place, the new SADC should Republic of Congo, though still frag- situation. Recent assessments now put be able to better deal with the chal- lenges that the region is facing, and feed into and from the emerging New AU Commissioners African Union. ❒ Portfolios Elected Gender Country SADC women in the AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Konare Male Mali Ms Bience Philomina Gawanas is a lawyer by Deputy Chairperson Patrick Mazimhaka Male Rwanda profession and is currently Ombudswoman in Namibia. She is a former gender law lecturer and Peace and Security Said Djinnit Male Algeria High Court Advocate. She holds a Masters in Political Affairs Julia Dolly Joiner Female The Gambia Business Administration and sits on boards of Infrastructure and Energy Bernard Zoba Male Congo several local and regional organisations. Social Affairs Bience Gawanas Female Namibia Human Resources, Ms Rosebud Kurwijila is an agriculturalist with Science and Technology Saida Agrebi Female Tunisia a MSc in Agricultural Economics and a MPhil in Development Economics. She has served in the Trade and Industry Elisabeth Tankeu Female Cameroon Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture for 12 years in Rural Economy Rosebud Kurwijila Female United Republic senior management positions and she is also a and Agriculture of Tanzania university lecturer. Economic Affairs To be appointed Male Southern Africa (see AU page 3) INSIDE ❒ Policy Review: Challenges for new AU leadership 3 Southern African Development Community Vol. 6 No. 3 August 2003 ❒ Finance Ministers Meeting 7 SADC TODAY is produced by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) six ❒ Country profile: United times a year on behalf of the SADC Republic of Tanzania 8 Secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the official positions and opinions of the ❒ Personality profile: Mkapa 8 SADC Secretariat or SARDC. Materials from this newsletter may be reproduced HIV and AIDS Summit 4 freely by the media and others with attri- ❒ World Congress on Protected bution to SADC TODAY. Areas in South Africa 12 ©SADC, SARDC, 2003 ❒ DRC Peace Process 12 Editorial Committee Chipo Muvezwa, Chengetai Madziwa, Chenai Mufanawejingo, Phyllis Johnson, ❒ Defence and Security Bonifacio Antonio, Clever Mafuta, Ministers Meeting 12 Pamela Mhlanga, Khulekani Madlela Editorial Advisors ❒ Community Building: Esther Kanaimba Head of SADC Public Relations Youth Parliament 13 Petronilla Ndebele SADC Information Officer Oil Industry 6 ❒ Around the Region: Editor News Briefs 14 Munetsi Madakufamba ❒ Design & Layout/DTP Book review & recent Tonely Ngwenya publications 15 Origination/Printing DS Print Media, South Africa ❒ SADC diary, public holidays & currency checklist 16 Contributions are welcome from individu- als and organisations within the SADC region in the form of articles, news items, and comments, and also from outside the region. The publishers reserve the right to Investment 7 select or reject items and edit for space available. 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Kaunda on MDGs 10 2 SADC TODAY, August 2003 POLICY REVIEW continent Enormous task ahead for new AU leadership by Munetsi Madakufamba he African Union (AU) African Investment The protocol establish- Commission, the most pivotal Bank are yet to be ing the Peace and Securi- Tstructure of the union created at approved. ty Council requires a the second ordinary summit in The AU’s flagship simple majority ratifica- Maputo, Mozambique in July, has project, the New tion by 27 countries for it given the organisation new impetus Partnership for Africa’s to come into force and vital in getting its remaining structures Development only 17 had done so Ferhat and various projects up and running. (NEPAD) will be by the end of the The immediate task for cautiously integrat- summit. Mozambican President Joaquim ed into the union Africa needs the Chissano, the new AU Chairperson, over a three-year council to deal with and the commissioners, is to juggle period. NEPAD, conflicts in Burundi, between operationalising the union which is the frame- the Central African and making sure that Africa’s host of work for revatilis- Republic, Demo- socio-economic and political chal- ing Afri-can Ferhat cratic Republic of lenges receive urgent attention. economies and Congo, Sudan and Zimbabwe’s President Robert extricating its citizens others. As President Mugabe was elected as one of the five out of poverty, has been Chissano said, there can- regional vice-chairpersons. And for- operating as a semi- not be investment without mer Malian President Alpha Oumar autonomous programme peace. Konare will head the Commission with a Secretariat in Despite being richly with his deputy Rwanda’s Patrick Pretoria, South Africa, Mukuzunga endowed with natural Mazimhaka and seven commissioners while the rest of the AU African heads of state and govern- resources and unparal- – five of them women in line with the institutions are in Addis ment at the J. Chissano leled agricultural poten- Convention Centre in Maputo, gender-sensitive AU constitution – Ababa. venue of the AU Summit, and tial, many African coun- completing the team appointed by the Since its adoption in Amara Essy, outgoing AU tries have been con- assembly. October 2001, NEPAD Commission interim chairperson. demned to extreme The commissioners represent the has received interna- poverty, disease and five regions of Africa and one, still to tional support from countries and hunger often due to either externally be appointed, will come from southern institutions such as the Group of Eight or self-induced conflicts and wars. Africa. Each one of them takes up a Industrialised Countries and the UN. Increasingly, the world is calling on specific area such as peace and securi- South African President Thabo Africa to be at the forefront of solving ty or economic affairs. They will take Mbeki, who chaired the AU for the first its complex problems, among them up their posts in Addis Ababa, year after the inaugural assembly in conflicts, HIV and AIDS, food insecu- Ethiopia, in September. Durban, criticised his colleagues for not rity and other socio-economic chal- Launched last year in South moving fast enough in ratifying the lenges.