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Herald Reporter
Africa’s Great Lakes Region has added its weight towards finding a solution to the DRC and Zambia border dispute by encouraging Sadc to be guided by African wisdom in solving the dispute between the two countries, which is not of the region’s own making, but a result of colonial heritage.

DRC and Zambia have had misunderstandings over one part of their common 1 600km border, the latest arising from a late 1980s attempt to demarcate the frontier with beacons in northeast Zambia.

Yesterday, a special envoy from the Great Lakes grouping on Sadc’s northern boundary, Congo-Brazzaville Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Claude Gakosso, approached President Mnangagwa to mediate in the long-standing border dispute between DRC and Zambia in his capacity as chairman of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

Zimbabwe was mandated by Sadc to ensure maintenance of peace, security and rule of law within the region.

In an interview after a meeting with President Mnangagwa, Minister Gakosso said wisdom should prevail in solving the dispute between the two countries.

“We had a message to deliver regarding a small bilateral problem, but of sub-regional and regional nature between Zambia and the DRC who have a different opinion over a border dispute,” he said.

He said they had discussed the same issue with President Mnangagwa with Zambian President Edgar Lungu and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and they were all in agreement that African wisdom should prevail in this situation.

“As Africa, we have so many challenges we are faced with, such as developmental issues and the well-being of our people, and we should not spend too much money on these border disputes which are a result of colonial heritage and not of our own making. We are all in agreement that this issue should be solved with wisdom,” he said.

He said at the moment they were working towards implementing the continental free trade area.

“We should be sending a different message to our people, not a message of fighting or violence to our fellow brothers,” he said.

Explaining the special envoy’s visit, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo said the visit was a mission of peace coming from another chairman of the Great Lakes of the region coming to the chairman of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

“They have come up with their opinions of how best the small problem between Zambia and DRC can be resolved. It’s a problem resulting from subjugation by the colonialists where we are succumbing to issues, which probably are not important for any one of the member states in the region.

“President Mnangagwa has remained consistent with his position — the Sadc position — and has welcomed the Great Lakes offer and position. Therefore he is going to consult other member states over the issue,” he said.

The Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation is established under the Sadc Treaty and Article 4 of the Sadc Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security.

The chairperson of the organ, in consultation with the Troika of Sadc, is responsible for the overall policy direction and achievement of the objectives of the organ, of promoting peace and security in the Sadc region. Both Zambia and the DRC are members of Sadc.

Under a strict and founding African Union policy, colonial frontiers remain in place unless otherwise agreed without dissent.

The occasional border disputes, such as between Nigeria and Cameroon and between Botswana and Namibia, have all arisen because of ambiguities or incomplete information in colonial treaties.