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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had “made great strides” in resolving peace and security disputes over the past year. APA learned on Friday. Speaking on his return from the 42nd SADC Summit which ended Thursday in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ramaphosa said he was satisfied with the ongoing reform process. in Lesotho, whose report that Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro presented to the summit “will serve as a real milestone in the life of the Basotho”. SADC and South Africa have played an important role in restoring peace and normalcy to the troubled kingdom, he noted. Among other developments at the summit, it was reported that SADC had repelled insurgents in Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, which reaffirmed the grouping’s “full commitment to supporting the people of Mozambique”. “What is heartening is that people who had fled different areas of Cabo Delgado are now returning home, with increased confidence, as SADC has helped them to bring regarding peace,” Mr. Ramaphosa said. SADC has also made progress in setting up a logistics center in Botswana which will help countries in the region to respond to emergencies, he said. “We will be able to provide the various assistance measures when there are situations where our armed forces have to intervene in one of our member states,” Mr. Ramaphosa said of the logistics center in Botswana. Mr. Ramaphosa also welcomed the progress made in the counter-terrorism center already operational in Tanzania. SADC has also made progress on issues relating to Eswatini, where it has set up a fact-finding mission “to seek effective ways to manage the situation” in the kingdom. Eswatini has recently faced nationwide democratic protests, with the monarch demanding the country be opened up to multiparty politics. Meanwhile, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo has been elected SADC President for one year, succeeding his Malawian counterpart Lazarus Chakwera.

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