Maintenance of peace and security in southern Africa should not be solely the responsibility of governments, but requires the involvement of non-state actors as well.

The assertion was made at the opening of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) conference on Defence and Security Cooperation in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, by the country’s Deputy Defence Minister, Henriques Banze.

“Partnerships between the government and non-state actors and international community enable the sharing of responsibilities in search of solutions for the problems that threaten peace and undermine development,” he said.

Held under the theme “Enhancing Peace and Security for Development in Southern Africa”, the two-day conference was called to discuss emerging peace and security initiatives at continental level; sustaining peace in southern Africa; implementation of the Strategic Indicative Plan of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation (SIPO); strengthening response and SADC relationship with the African Union Alert Force.

SIPO provides guidelines for the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

The involvement of non-state actors was necessitated by recent experience of political, military and economic instability in the region, said Banze, adding that this will gradually establish and evolve into “a culture of peace in substitution of the culture of violence.”

The conference comes after the SADC summit held in Mauritius in August, in which the heads of state and government recommended that member states should seek strategies for strengthening the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation’s operational capacities. The organ is currently chaired by South Africa.

The strategic milieu and the concept of security in southern Africa are changing, said Banze, which means that SADC has to reorganise and adjust its approach to security issues, in order to “involve state and non-state actors, … in search of consensus on the issues.”

This is important because of the negative impact that socio-political instability in one country of the region can have on others, especially in the context of globalisation and regionalisation.

“The primary objective of security architecture must always be to promote the regional interests in matters related to the defence and security sector, giving privilege to mutual cooperation and attainment of consensus on how to deal with delicate issues,” said Banze.

Siphiwe Nyanda, chief of South African National Defence Forces (SANDF), told SANF that the Maputo conference “is part of the deliberations of the Mauritius summit. We want to see to the implementation of SIPO.”

Crucially, “we want to see how practical for us to realise the operationalisation of SIPO; look at the programme; look at the resources that we need in SADC in order to put SIPO on the right path,” said Nyanda.

He said that the Maputo conference aims to achieve consensus on the programme and plan of action for the implementation of SIPO, a key part of the region’s defence and security.

The Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Peace Building Initiatives in Africa Regional Programme, Dr Sam Amoo, called on the 40 participants to focus attention on the symbiotic relationship between peace and security as “there cannot be peace without security, and both peace and security are very important for development.”

UNDP is the main supporter of the conference, and views it as a capacity building initiative for peace and security.

Dr Amoo said that there is a great body of defence and security knowledge in the region not to warrant “parachuting experts” from outside.

“The programme does not believe in parachuting experts. We believe experts already exist in the region,” he said. (SARDC)

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