(HERALD) Peace, stability crucial for Sadc — Mumbengegwi

Peace, stability crucial for Sadc — Mumbengegwi
Herald Reporter

Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has said the maintenance of peace and stability is a prerequisite for development in the Sadc region. Addressing Sadc defence and police chiefs who attended a briefing on Exercise Golfinho at the Sadc Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre in Harare on Monday, Minister Mumbe-ngegwi said the region was committed to supporting peace initiatives.

"One cannot over-emphasise the importance of peace in the region’s development. "Indeed, peace and peaceful resolution of conflicts are prerequisites for development. "It is for this reason that the promotion of peace, security and political stability is a major objective of Sadc and the African Union," he said.

Minister Mumbengegwi said the knowledge gained by officers taking part in the exercise would help them in future peacekeeping duties.

"The knowledge that would be gained by our men and women during training and execution of Exercise Golfinho will not only help them to perform better in their day-to-day duties, but will also help them in their future deployment as peacekeepers under Sadc, AU or United Nations-mandated missions," he said.

Exercise Golfinho is part of the groundwork for the establishment of a full Sadc Standby Force that will be part of the AU force to be launched next year.

In an interview on the sidelines of the occasion, Ambassador Moses Dhlamini, the special representative of King Mswati III of Swaziland, who chairs the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, said the briefing was the final preparatory stage before the field exercise to be conducted in South Africa next month.

"There would be a field exercise in Bloemfontein, South Africa, next month where a fictitious state would be created for the purposes of creating real-life situations," he said.

Ambassador Dhlamini said the Sadc Standby Force would be made up of military personnel, police and civilians that would assist people in areas affected by conflict or other natural disasters.

Commandant of the Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre Lieutenant-Colonel Sambulo Ndlovu said Zimbabwe was assigned to spearhead co-ordination of peacekeeping in the region. Ten Sadc member states were represented at the briefing.