Harare - The cycle of meetings leading up to the 44th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) ends Friday in Harare, with the summit of the Troika of the regional bloc's body.
According to a source from the organization, the meeting, taking place in the new Zimbabwean Parliament building, should adopt a set of recommendations on peace and security issues, to be submitted for approval by the summit of heads of state and government this Saturday, 17.
The situation of terrorism in Mozambique and the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) dominate the agenda of the meeting whose preparation was in charge of senior officials of the Troika of the Council of Ministers of the Body.
The meeting will be chaired by the head of state of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, in his capacity as chairman of the Organ for Cooperation in the Areas of Politics, Defence and Security, in the presence of the executive secretary, Elias Mpedi Magosi.
Currently, Zambia, Tanzania and Namibia are part of the Body, which, together with the members of the Summit Troika (Angola, Zimbabwe and DRC) form the SADC Double Troika, whose presidency is assumed on a rotating basis.
In accordance with the organization's regulations, the Summit Troika (also known as the SADC Troika) is made up of the countries that assume the SADC presidency, the vice-presidency and the outgoing presidency.
This system was established in 1999 during a SADC summit held in Mozambique, before its renewal in the 2001 institutional reform.
Under this system, the Troika has the power to take quick decisions on behalf of SADC and to provide political guidance to the organisation's institutions in the intervals between their regular summits.
In turn, the Body is also managed on a Troika basis and is responsible for promoting peace and security in the region, and is mandated to guide member states on issues that threaten peace, security and stability in the region.
Coordinated at summit level, it is also made up of a chairman, the next and the outgoing chair, and reports to the chairperson of the SADC summit.
Like the president of the summit, the Organ also rotates annually. The structure, functioning and functions are regulated by the Protocol on Political, Defence and Security Cooperation.
The Troika system operates at the levels of the Summit, the Body (for Political, Defence and Security Cooperation), the Council of Ministers and the Standing Committee of Senior Officials.
Previous meetings
Before the Organ Troika summit, the program of preliminary activities began with the holding of the VII SADC Industrialization Week, which took place from 28 July to 2 August, followed by the meeting of Senior Officials and the Finance Committee, from the 8th to the 11th of August.
From the 13th to the 14th of August, it was the turn of the Council of Ministers session, when Angola passed the testimony to Zimbabwe in the presidency of this body responsible for preparing the agenda for the summit of heads of state and government.
In the last two days, the SADC and Arab Development Bank in Africa (BADEA) Investment Forum and the Public Lecture were held.
An organization founded 44 years ago, SADC is currently made up of 16 countries with a total of close to 340 million inhabitants, 10 million square kilometers of area and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 4,720 per capita.
Member States are South Africa, Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, eSwatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, the Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and o Zimbabwe. IZ/ADR/DOJ
