President Mnangagwa advanced AU’s ‘Silencing the Guns’ initiative

Debra Matabvu

PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA’S tenure as chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will go down in history as having advanced peace and stability in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the African union (AU)’s “Silencing the Guns” initiative.

The President’s one-year tenure, which ends today when he hands over the chairpersonship to  Madagascar’s Andry Rajoelina, will also be remembered for bringing together two regional blocs — SADC and the East African Community (EAC) — as part of a historic push to spearhead efforts to curb conflict in the eastern DRC.

In an interview yesterday, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications), Mr George Charamba, said, under Zimbabwe’s leadership, the two regional blocs led efforts to facilitate the merger of the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes into a single African-led framework.

“I would suggest and strongly argue that the biggest and foremost achievement that we registered as the chairman of SADC related to silencing the guns,” Mr Charamba said.

“This is the mantra of the African Union, which is in fact the mother body within which we locate sub-regional bodies like SADC. The African union has taken a position to say that we must achieve universal peace on the continent to enable development.

“What that means is the African union then sub-contracts that assignment to sub-regional organisations, of which SADC is one such, to ensure that there is peace, and that peace reigns and prevails within every building block; in our case, in respect of SADC.”

Mr Charamba said during his tenure as SADC chairperson, President Mnangagwa, for the first time, brought together two regional blocs in an effort to find lasting peace in the eastern DRC.

“So, really, the issue of the Congo loomed large, both at the time of assumption of our chairmanship and as well as during our tenure as the chairman,” Mr Charamba added.

“You saw there was an escalation of conflict in the eastern part of the DRC, and an escalation that in fact drew in even countries that lay outside the SADC region, which is why, through his good guidance, through his good leadership, you find that the chairman was able to cause a joint summit of two sub-regional bodies of the African Union, namely SADC and EAC.

“This is the first ever time that we see two regional building blocs putting their collective heads together in order to cobble peace; and not just once, they did it twice with the chairmen of both sub-regional bodies, then finally meeting to see what was in fact a landmark and precedent-setting decision of those two regional blocs —  and all in the interest of peace.

“Now there is no more conflict in the DRC, or if it is, it is in a very sporadic and subdued form. So, for me, and for Zimbabwe, this was a key achievement by President ED Mnangagwa as the chairman of SADC.”

Mr Charamba said during his tenure as SADC chairperson, President Mnangagwa focused on consolidating the disjointed peace efforts under the Luanda and Nairobi processes, which have since been harmonised into a single regional framework to ensure credibility and respect across the continent.

“There was actually a dire need for us to tidy up that front, to make sure that we have one consolidated, joint regional peace process, which would command the respect of both building blocs. That was done,” he added.

He emphasised that despite the emergence of the other initiatives such as the Qatar and United States peace processes, President Mnangagwa and his Kenyan counterpart, President William Ruto, who is the chairperson of the EAC, brought harmony in these processes.

Value addition

President Mnangagwa also stood out for his emphasis on beneficiating minerals in the region and across the continent.

“The second aspect, which would really again show very foresighted leadership on the part of Zimbabwe, had to do with realising the importance of beneficiating our own resources in the region through industrialisation,” Mr Charamba added.

“You notice that for Zimbabwe it was no news. We were doing it already. But now it has become a sub-regional agenda. In fact, I dare say, a continental agenda to the extent that other sub-regions are also taking notes from us.

“In the case of Zimbabwe, in respect of our lithium, in respect of our chrome, in respect of all, virtually almost all our minerals, we are insisting on value addition for purposes of reshoring the processing of those minerals to build more jobs and to get more returns for our own economy.

“So, it is now a sub-regional agenda. And this coming again in the background of two key global developments, which again shows you the foresightedness of the President’s leadership of SADC.

“The first development, which is very, very adverse, relates to the tariff wars, which the US provoked, and which has created all sorts of confusion in terms of international trade.

“So, you can imagine how much of victims SADC was going to be as a bloc and individually if we were not prepared for that kind of adverse global development.”

Mr Charamba said the second adverse factor that could be made reference to related to the conflict situation in global affairs.

“And we saw how that negatively affected supply chains in practically all aspects that are so critical to our own economic development, but where you have a new leadership and a sub-regional outlook which emphasises continental free trade, then it means Africa can look at its own capacity and resources to be able to move forward,” he said.

“So that was a key element in terms of our chairmanship of SADC.”

Mr Charamba said President Mnangagwa’s SADC chairpersonship was marked by the introduction of a philosophy drawn from Zimbabwe’s national mantra, “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”.

This, he said, underscored the importance of infrastructure for trade and regional integration, with Zimbabwe providing leadership through example in laying the groundwork for sub-regional cohesion and growth.

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