Source: The Herald – Breaking news.
President MnangagwaAfrica Moyo in LUANDA, Angola
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa is expected to arrive in Luanda, Angola, this morning to attend the SADC Extraordinary Summit that will tackle the security situation in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where over 260 000 people have been displaced.
Zimbabwe is not on the agenda, contrary to unfounded claims by some CCC officials on social media, who are deliberately misleading their supporters.
An extraordinary summit discusses just one issue, and in this case, it is the security situation in the DRC, where thousands of people have been displaced in North Kivu since the beginning of October due to violence.
Senior SADC officials yesterday said if Zimbabwe was to be smuggled onto the agenda, it would be mischief on the part of a Zimbabwean who works in the SADC Secretariat, who is said to be “very close to CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa and is paid by the European Union (EU)”.
It could not be immediately verified if the man is on the EU payroll.
A senior Government official yesterday said the man (name supplied) was not seconded to SADC by Zimbabwe, but applied through the normal channels.
He is said to be acting for a number of people and organisations in SADC, the EU and the United States, who want Zimbabwe to remain under “constant pressure”.
Yesterday, officials from SADC member-states had a series of meetings, with the first involving Chiefs of Defence, followed by that of senior government officials, in which Zimbabwe was represented by Permanent Secretary for Defence Mr Aaron Nhepera.
After lunch, there was a meeting for ministers, with Zimbabwe represented by Acting Defence Minister Kazembe Kazembe.
In an interview with journalists, Minister Kazembe said the SADC Extraordinary Summit was a continuation of the first meeting held virtually on Tuesday, but had to be deferred to today after some areas experienced connectivity challenges.
“We are basically here for the continuation of the SADC Extraordinary Summit that took place virtually, and was then adjourned,” said Minister Kazembe.
“Tomorrow (today) Heads of State are meeting and we are actually expecting His Excellency the President, Dr ED Mnangagwa tomorrow (today).
“But we are already here because in the next few minutes (yesterday) we will be going into an Inter-Ministerial meeting, which is a meeting of ministers.
“But earlier on, there was a meeting of senior officials, and before that, there was a meeting for the Chiefs of Defence. So, the summit is continuing; it started a few days ago.”
Asked if Zimbabwe was on the agenda as is being propagated by CCC officials, Minister Kazembe said being an extraordinary summit “one would expect to have one item on the agenda and from the briefing that I have been given by the officials, it is about the situation in the DRC”.
“That is what we expect to be discussed at tomorrow (today)’s meeting. An extraordinary meeting by its definition, is supposed to be around one particular agenda that would have caused people to meet.
“In this particular case, the issue at hand, the issue to be discussed, is the issue of the situation in Eastern Congo,” said Minister Kazembe.
Reports indicate that women and children have been badly affected by the violence sweeping across Eastern DRC, with thousands of people in the Rutshuru and Masisi territories forced to flee their homes.
Over 260 000 people are said to have fled to South Kivu, which sits at the periphery of the primary conflict.
M23 rebels are fighting with government forces and a week ago, they reportedly reached the town of Bambo, which is north of Goma, and the people fled, with the little they could carry.
The seriousness of the situation has prompted SADC leaders to reconvene physically, after the virtual meeting of October 31 was affected by connectivity challenges.
During the virtual meeting, Zimbabwe and Eswatini were praised by SADC Chairperson and Angolan President João Lourenço, for holding peaceful and orderly general elections.
In his remarks, President Lourenço said Zimbabwe and Eswatini held “exemplary elections” where there was tranquility and order.
He added that the way the elections were held “constituted a major victory for democracy and contribution to peace and stability amongst everyone in the Republic of Zimbabwe and the Kingdom of Eswatini”.
“Allow me to express our hope that this same spirit will also be seen in the elections that will take place in the Republic of Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
DRC is scheduled to conduct elections on December 20.
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