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Southern Africa: SADC Update
Southern Africa: SADC Update
Date distributed (ymd): 010418
Document reposted by APIC
Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List: an information
service provided by AFRICA ACTION (incorporating the Africa
Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the American
Committee on Africa). Find more information for action for
Africa at http://www.africapolicy.org
++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Southern Africa
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+
+security/peace+
SUMMARY CONTENTS:
This posting contains three articles reporting on recent
developments in the Southern African Development Community (SADC),
including changes in the regional organization decided at the
recent Windhoek summit. Among other actions, the summit appointed
Prega Ramsamy as Executive Secretary and decided to centralize
administration of SADC functions at the headquarters in Botswana.
A third article reports on regional estimates for crop production,
predicting no famine conditions despite recent floods and drought.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UN Integrated Regional Information Network
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN
SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC changes will bring efficiency
JOHANNESBURG, 13 March (IRIN) - A new managerial structure adopted
at the Southern African Development Community's (SADC)
extraordinary summit in Windhoek last week would go a long way
towards furthering regional coordination and cooperation, experts
told IRIN on Tuesday. The region's leaders decided at the one-day
summit last Friday to merge the SADC's 19 sectors, which are run
by individual member-states, into four clusters: trade, industry,
finance and investment; infrastructure and services; food,
agriculture and natural resources; and social and human
development.
There is also room for co-ordination on issues like disaster
management and drug trafficking through the creation of special
projects. Another important decision taken was to make the SADC
Organ on Politics, Defence and Security accountable to the Summit
and to rotate its leadership annually, using a troika system.
Horst Brammer, a deputy director in South Africa's Foreign Affairs
Department, said it was hoped that the new structure would bring
greater focus to the SADC and the manner in which it approached
project implementation. "Until now there has been a sectoral
approach, a great deal of decentralisation among countries with
differing degrees of capacity. Depending on the capacity of a
country driving a particular sector, some were operating and
others were not operating at all. Now, instead of a country
running one sector, experts from across the region will be used,"
he said.
"What will happen now is that the subject matter each sector was
responsible for - instead of a sector on water and another on
forestry - will be clustered into four broad directorates, so you
will have a directorate on finance, development and investment,"
he added. It is envisaged that the SADC will boost its secretariat
in Botswana to facilitate greater efficiency and to ensure that the
clusters work cohesively.
According to Brammer the changes could transform the SADC into a
leaner and meaner body. "The new system will be less cumbersome.
It will be cheaper, and at the same time there will be a higher
level of efficiency because you are pooling expertise," he said.
Jakkie Cilliers, director of the Institute for Security Studies,
based in South Africa, agreed.
Referring to the Organ on Defence, Politics and Security which was
created in 1996, he said the perception created that the change
was a defeat for Mugabe was incorrect. "It has been in the
pipeline, and it is a rotating chair. Off course he has tried to
stay on, but final agreement on its structure was agreed in
Swaziland last year.
Zimbabwe always wanted it separate from the SADC, Namibia and
Angola wanted this too. He (Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who
has been chair of the organ since 1996) wanted to continue in the
legacy of the frontline states, so that Zimbabwe would almost be
the permanent chair of the organ," said Cilliers. "Nelson Mandela
disagreed with this and there have been various attempts by
Swaziland, Mozambique and Malawi to mediate. Then, South Africa,
under President Thabo Mbeki, launched a process to bridge the
divide.
A protocol was negotiated and it was agreed at ministerial meetings
in Swaziland that the organ's leadership would rotate," Cilliers
added. He said the fact that it took five years to find agreement
on the issue indicated that the region remained divided, with
members of the SADC being suspicious of each other, and with
differing approaches to issues like conflict resolution and
regional collaboration.
"The region has a long road ahead in terms of building a
collaborative security regime, where countries cooperate and don't
compete. Lots of work still needs to be done, like the creation of
confidence-building mechanisms. What we are trying to do is
establish a region that is stable and cooperative," he said.
Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC)
P O Box 5690 Harare Zimbabwe
Tel: 2634-738694-6 fax: 738694
Email: sardc@sardc.net
URL: www.sardc.net/editoral/sanf/2001
SADC puts on a new face
by a correspondent in Windhoek
March 30, 2001
Heads of State of the Southern African Development Community have
approved a radical restructuring of SADC institutions to "squarely
face the daunting regional and global challenges".
Consultations over the past year at ministerial level proposed the
restructuring and centralization of SADC functions, from 21 sectors
based in 14 countries and dealing with a diverse range of
development issues from health, environment and mining to trade,
tourism and investment into four clusters to be located at the SADC
headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana. The proposal was adopted by
Heads of State with little change, setting SADC on course to
streamline itself rapidly into four Directorates, as follows:
Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment; Infrastructure and
Services; Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR); Social
and Human Development and Special Programmes.
These changes are to be implemented over the next two years,
beginning with the economic directorate to be established by August
this year, and FANR Directorate by year-end.
The SADC Chairperson, President Sam Nujoma of Namibia, said the
restructuring exercise will be tested against results in terms of
"greater unity, increased and meaningful economic integration as
well as economic competitiveness in the global market place. These
will be the yardsticks that will measure our successes or
failures."
The summit also agreed to create the Department of Strategic
Planning, Gender and Development and Policy Harmonization, to
strengthen the Secretariat in executing these functions and to
serve as a think tank for community-building, regional integration
and development.
Functions of the Council of Ministers remain as outlined in the
Windhoek Treaty of 1992, but Summit also established an Integrated
Committee of Ministers to oversee activities of the core areas of
integration, including implementation of a Regional Indicative
Strategic Development Plan.
The Summit agreed that its own functions will remain as outlined in
the Treaty and that the Troika system must be "formalized and
provided for in the Treaty." This system is already operating in
practice and facilitates consultation and leadership by the
present, past and next SADC Chairpersons, currently Presidents Sam
Nujoma of Namibia, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Bakili Muluzi
of Malawi.
Another item settled for public consumption after some backroom
bargaining was the status of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense
and Security, launched at an Extraordinary Summit in Botswana on 28
June 1996, as a separate consultative structure to "allow more
flexibility and timely response, at the highest level, to sensitive
and potentially explosive situations." As such, the Organ took over
the security mandate of the old Front Line States (FLS) grouping
established in the 1970s to deal with political and security issues
associated with support for the liberation struggle in southern
Africa. It consults at summit, ministerial and technical levels,
the most active component being the Inter-State Defence and
Security Committee (ISDSC).
SADC leaders agreed at their annual summit in Lesotho, a few months
after launching the Organ, that it "would become the foremost
institution of SADC mandated to address issues relating to
political stability, conflict prevention, management and
resolution, democracy and human rights, as well as issues
pertaining to peace."
The Organ has been administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Zimbabwe since its inception, and headed by President Robert
Mugabe, who was elected by his colleagues at the inaugural summit.
There has been a reluctance by a number of member states to begin
the rotation of leadership before formal agreement on the mandate
and functions of the Organ, after disagreement over whether it
should become an integral part of the SADC structure.
After the military interventions in Lesotho by South Africa and
Botswana, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by Angola,
Namibia and Zimbabwe, it was eventually agreed that those SADC
states that feel able to intervene to assist a member state at the
request of its government, should do so.
There had been concern that the flexibility to respond to critical
security issues such as these would be hampered if the
decision-making process was subordinated to a bureaucratic
structure such as the Secretariat.
The Organ has remained essentially as agreed in 1996, and attempts
to locate it within the structure of the SADC Secretariat failed
again in Windhoek, in all but language. The Organ "will now be
integrated in the SADC structures" but coordinated at Summit level
on a Troika basis reporting to the Chairperson of Summit.
Leadership of the Organ will begin to rotate later this year as
previously agreed, when SADC leaders meet in Malawi for their
annual summit. The structure, operations and functions of the Organ
will be regulated by a new Protocol on Politics, Defence and
Security Cooperation.
The sensitivity of this issue was reflected in press reports in
different countries which gave totally different interpretations of
what had happened, based on the briefing spin of their officials.
The South African press painted the rotation as a defeat for
President Mugabe, although based on a procedure agreed four years
ago; while the national media in Zimbabwe heralded this development
as a victory for their President over the machinations of
Mozambique and South Africa.
These are only two examples of the widely varying media reports
which give public face to the polarization of national interests in
the region. Whether the SADC region could rightly be called
bi-polar or multi-polar is a question of perspective and differs
according to the issue at stake, but this was not the only agenda
item in which Mozambique took an active role with South Africa and
Botswana, in opposing the position of Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and
Zambia.
Although the Organ has been a fault line in SADC, especially over
intervention in the DRC, the same lines were drawn for different
reasons over the election of a new Executive Secretary. On this
issue, national interests prevailed.
The former Chief Economist and Deputy, Prega Ramsamy, has been
acting Executive Secretary since Kaire Mbuende's departure in
August 1999. An economist from Mauritius with some 19 years
experience in the field, Ramsamy is a technocrat focused firmly on
Trade as a priority over other aspects of regional development.
Some members of SADC wanted stronger leadership with a wider vision
and access to political decision-making at ministerial level, to
pursue an accelerated agenda of regional integration. Others,
notably South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana, prefer an
administrator who will deal with technical and trade issues.
The latter countries argued that more time should be allowed for
candidates to be interviewed and recommended by officials. However,
the Chairperson, President Nujoma ruled that the decision should be
made without further delay, to strengthen SADC leadership in both
reality and perception.
The five contenders presented by their countries previously in
response to a call for candidates were then interviewed by a
Selection Committee established by Summit and made up of five
ministers of "neutral" countries which were not presenting
candidates, ie Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and
Zimbabwe.
Although there was some speculation that gender bias played a role
in the decision which prevented SADC from heading into the 21st
century with highly competent female leadership, the associated
reasons were national interest rooted in South Africa's ambivalence
to Angola and to a strong, united region.
The front-runner prior to the Summit was a highly competent Angolan
woman cabinet minister, a chemical engineer with years of
experience in her profession and in SADC activities, and a
political career that reached the giddiest heights to which a woman
has risen in the political administration of a SADC country.
Albina Assis Africano sorted out the strongest economic ministry in
Angola, that of Petroleum, before continuing her trajectory as
Minister of Industry. She has been Minister in the President's
Office while campaigning with official support for the post of SADC
Executive Secretary. She speaks all three SADC languages.
Another notable aspect of national interest is the fact that
certain member states are almost never represented at SADC Summits
by their heads of state. As has become almost a custom, the former
Front Line States always attend at the highest level, while
Mauritius, Seychelles and Lesotho send only ministerial
representation.
It seems likely that other, larger members such as Angola may lose
interest in southern regional development in favour of pursuing
national interests and linkages in other directions.
The face that attracted the most interest as SADC leaders lined up
for their photo call at this Extraordinary Summit was also the
newest and youngest, that of General Joseph Kabila, the 29-year-old
son of the assassinated DRC leader, Laurent Kabila.
Well-turned-out in a natty, wide-lapelled suit that echoed the
style of his Angolan counterpart, Kabila the younger was a
dignified presence both on the platform and off, during a moment of
silence in remembrance of his father and during top-level bilateral
meetings about the future of his country.
A seasoned Tanzanian journalist concluded wrily during the lengthy
six-hour wait for the closing session, that while he thought the
foundations for regional integration were being laid, it would be
the generation of Kabila the younger that succeeds in building a
southern African regional community. (SARDC)
UN Integrated Regional Information Network
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Harvest declines, but no drastic price hikes
[slightly condensed]
JOHANNESBURG, 28 March (IRIN) - The prices of staple grain
products in southern Africa were unlikely to be drastically
affected by the impact of floods and drought on crops in the
region, analysts told IRIN on Wednesday. Kit LeClus, manager of
marketing and research development at Grain SA, a commercial
grain producers' body, said adverse weather conditions had
affected crops throughout the region, but that there would be no
"famine or catastrophe".
"It will be tight. Relief will be needed, but in the region as a
whole we believe that Zimbabwe will have a shortfall of about
300,000 mt and that Tanzania and Kenya together will need about
100,000 mt of grains," he said. He added, however, that different
states had been differently affected and that some might
experience more serious shortages.
Liliana Balbi, southern Africa country officer for the UN's Food
and Agricultural Organisation, also told IRIN that conditions in
different states varied. She said that South Africa and Malawi
were expected to experience a reduction in exports this season
while Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia would have to increase their
imports sharply.
Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland had bad harvests last year, and
were expecting no better this year, she said, meaning that they
would have to import the same quantity of grains as last year - or
more. Angola would once again have to import grains and rely
heavily on international aid, Balbi said, while Mozambique's
national crops, despite some losses, were not believed to be
severely affected by drought and floods.
All the analysts who spoke to IRIN said it was still too early to
determine exactly what crop quantities the region - and its
individual states - would yield. ...
In its monthly report released on 16 March, the SADC's Regional
Early Warning Unit (REWU) said that while preliminary forecasts
were yet to be made in most states, indications were that there
would be a 26 percent decline in the 2000/2001 SADC maize harvest
to between 14.45 and 15.10 million mt compared with last season's
above average production of 20.10 million mt.
"The decline is attributed to reduced plantings in South Africa and
Zimbabwe, excessive rains and flooding in Malawi, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while a devastasting mid-season dry
spell affected several other countries," the report said. Floods
have ruined over 30,000 hectares of cropland and displaced about
400,000 people in Mozambique.
About 335,000 people have been affected by flooding in parts of
Malawi, and storms and heavy rains have also taken their toll in
eastern Zambia and northern Zimbabwe. In its overview, the unit
said: "Indications are that a regional maize deficit/import
reqirement of between 2.10 million mt is in prospect for the
2001/2002 marketing year, as compared to a regional surplus of
1.71 million mt in the 2000/2001 marketing year. Only Malawi and
South Africa are projected as showing domestic maize surpluses in
the 2001/2002 marketing year." ...
For the latest SADC report, please see:
http://www.sadc-fanr.org.zw/rewu/fsmb/fsmb.htm
For the latest FAO report, please see:
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/faoinfo/economic/giews/english/alertes/2001/SRSAF01.htm .
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by
Africa Action (incorporating the Africa Policy Information
Center, The Africa Fund, and the American Committee on Africa).
Africa Action's information services provide accessible
information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and
international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.
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