SADC - The African Mirror

Apr

12

2024

Interstate deals fuel drive for African single roaming regime

GROWING interstate deals to end roaming fees are boosting efforts for a unified roaming regime in Africa, essential for a connected digital market. Benin and Ghana are the latest African countries to slash communication costs for their citizens roaming between the two countries. The new rates apply from July 1 and align with a protocol introduced by the ECOWAS region in March to encourage regional economic integration. The announcement follows a Southern African Development Community's (SADC) initiative last year involving Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, to lower roaming costs. Cross-border travellers on the continent often shoulder exorbitant internet and mobile…

Apr

10

2024

By The African Mirror

Three soldiers killed by mortar on Southern African mission in Congo

NEWS

THREE soldiers on a Southern African peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed and three others wounded after a hostile mortar round landed near their camp, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said. Regional bloc SADC deployed its mission to Congo on December 15 last year to help the government address instability and tackle armed groups in its restive eastern region, where violent clashes have escalated in a conflict that has lasted decades. "This unfortunate incident happened after a hostile mortar round had fallen near the camp they were staying (at)," the 16-member bloc said in a statement.…

Feb

14

2024

By The African Mirror

South Africa to deploy 2,900 troops to fight armed groups in eastern Congo

NEWS

SOUTH Africa will send 2,900 troops as part of its contribution to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) force deployed to tackle armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the president's office said in a statement on Monday. The one-year deployment will cover the period between December 15. 2023 and December 15, 2024, and will cost around 2 billion rand ($105.75 million), the statement said. The 16-member state SADC approved the eastern Congo mission in May last year to help Congo, the world's top supplier of cobalt and Africa's top copper producer, address instability and deteriorating security in its restive eastern…

Oct

17

2023

By The African Mirror

Mauritius is the latest nation to decriminalise same-sex relations in a divided continent

NEWS

THE Mauritius Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional a law that criminalises consensual same-sex acts between adult men. The decision boosts the trend in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region towards decriminalisation. Now, a slight majority – nine out of 16 member states – do not prohibit gay and lesbian sexual relations. I have researched and taught human rights law in Africa, including the rights of sexual minorities, for over three decades, and closely follow the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. FRANS VILJOEN, Director and Professor of International Human Rights Law, Centre for Human Rights,…

Oct

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Mauritius is the latest nation to decriminalise same-sex relations in a divided continent

HUMAN RIGHTS

THE Mauritius Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional a law that criminalises consensual same-sex acts between adult men. The decision boosts the trend in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region towards decriminalisation. Now, a slight majority – nine out of 16 member states – do not prohibit gay and lesbian sexual relations. I have researched and taught human rights law in Africa, including the rights of sexual minorities, for over three decades, and closely follow the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. FRANS VILJOEN, Director and Professor of International Human Rights Law, Centre for Human Rights,…

Jul

15

2022

By The African Mirror

Southern African bloc further extends Mozambique troop deployment

NEWS

SOUTHERN African countries agreed to extend their troop deployment in Mozambique for another month to help it fight an Islamic State-linked insurgency. The countries, linked in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), agreed last year to send troops to Mozambique. The mission's mandate was set to end on Friday but has been extended on an interim basis until an SADC heads of state summit in mid-August, when a more detailed report on the mission's progress will be considered. The insurgency is concentrated in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado. It has claimed thousands of lives since it broke out in…

Jul

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Rwanda deploys troops to Mozambique

NEWS

RWANDA has started deploying a 1 000-strong force to Mozambique to help the country combat an escalating Islamic State-linked insurgency that threatens its stability. Last month, the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) approved the deployment of a joint force to help Mozambique respond to the conflict that is concentrated in the northern Cabo Delgado province. Soldiers from Rwanda, which is not a member of SADC, would fight alongside Mozambique's forces and SADC troops, the Rwandan government said. Fighting erupted in October 2017 and thousands of civilians, soldiers and insurgents have been killed in the violence. "The Rwandan contingent will…

Jul

05

2021

By The African Mirror

eSwatini forces unhappy with the SADC

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER PRO-democracy forces in eSwatini, where scores have been killed and injured by the police, have criticised a delegation from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for meeting with the government only and ignoring them. One of the unhappy organisations is the Economic Freedom Front in Swaziland. The party’s spokesperson Sphelele Nkomondze said they were angry that the SADC delegation met with the government and then post-postponed, to a later date, a meeting with the civil society. “This is clear that the SADC cannot hold member states accountable for gross violation of human rights in front of them,…

May

28

2021

By The African Mirror

No military response to Moz insurgency

NEWS

A bloc of southern African nations has said it will work to shore up Mozambique's security forces as they battle an escalating insurgency linked to Islamic State, but made no mention of proposals for military intervention. Members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including neighbouring South Africa, have favoured the idea of regional military action as the violence has worsened and the threat to regional stability has grown. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi, however, has said in the past Mozambique should handle certain aspects of the response alone for reasons of sovereignty, and resisted suggestions of foreign boots on the…

May

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Exclusive: SA’s military solution for Mozambique

NEWS

WENDELL ROELF SOUTH Africa will press for urgent military action by regional body SADC to quell an Islamist insurgency in Mozambique threatening to destabilize neighbouring countries, the foreign minister has said. It will make this call at a summit of the Southern African Development Community's 16 member states next week, Naledi Pandor told Reuters in a telephone interview. SADC leaders have been discussing how to tackle the insurgency by Islamic State-linked militants, with an option for force, but this is the first time South Africa has explicitly thrown its weight behind the idea of military intervention. View Post Since 2008,…