SADC pledges support for Zim’s UN seat bid Minister Shava

Africa Moyo Deputy News Editor

Zimbabwe yesterday took its bid for one of Africa’s rotational non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for 2027 to 2028 to the SADC Council of Ministers’ meeting in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where support was pledged by the 16-member bloc.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Ambassador Frederick Shava, confirmed the development in a statement from Kinshasa yesterday.

SADC Ministers of Foreign Affairs have been meeting as the Council of Ministers in the DR Congo capital since Saturday.

“. . . I also took the opportunity to solicit the region’s support for Zimbabwe’s bid for one of Africa’s rotational non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for the period 2027 to 2028,” said Ambassador Shava.

“Zimbabwe last held a similar seat on the UN Security Council from 1991 to 1992.

“In its pledged support, the region took note of Zimbabwe’s contribution to regional and international peace support operations where officers deployed from the country’s defence and police forces continue to distinguish themselves.”

Government recently notified citizens that it had presented Zimbabwe’s candidature for Africa’s rotational slot as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and awaited authorisation of the African Union Executive Council during its next session in February 2023.

The pending validation of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) is optimistic after the same caucus during its 40th ordinary session held in Ethiopia, in February elected Zimbabwe to the 15-member AU Peace and Security Council.

In this AU role, Zimbabwe is playing an active part in promoting peace and security on the continent, a clear recognition of its commitment to the continental agenda.

Since President Mnangagwa’s administration took office, it has been reaching out to the world under the mantra, “An enemy of none and friend to all”.

Ambassador Shava said the Council of Ministers meets in ordinary session in March and August of each year.

The August session meets to review progress made in the implementation of decisions taken at the last meetings of summit and make appropriate policy recommendations to Summit.

In their deliberations since Saturday, Ambassador Shava said the Council of Ministers considered 14 agenda items and adopted 95 decisions.

“It had a comprehensive agenda that focused on reviewing progress in the implementation of various activities during the past summit year (2021-2022) and providing guidance to the Secretariat on ongoing and new interventions for implementation in the coming Summit year (2022-2023),” he said.

“We took note of progress in the development of guidelines for the curricula on Southern African Liberation History and the roadmap for its roll out in Member States. This initiative followed a realisation that culture, history and heritage were essential components of the development of our countries and region. SADC was therefore aiming to preserve and promote its history and values through incorporating Southern African liberation history in the educational curricula of Member States.

“In this regard, Council noted that Member States were at varying stages of integrating Southern African liberation history into their curricula. To facilitate the smooth roll out, several initiatives including a pilot study, workshops and trainings were at different levels of implementation, with support from UNESCO.”

For Zimbabwe, said Ambassador Shava, discussion on this agenda item coincided with the commemorations of the Heroes and Defence Forces days, which were part of Government’s efforts to preserve national history.

The Council of Ministers’ meeting noted that Zimbabwe had undertaken several initiatives including integrating culture and national heritage in its National Development Strategy 1 and in the new Education Curriculum 5.0.

Zimbabwe is also renaming roads and key Government buildings after national and regional liberation icons, has launched the Africa Fact Book and is constructing a heritage museum in the vicinity of the Heroes Acre in Harare, said Ambassador Shava.

The forthcoming SADC Summit, which is slated for Wednesday and Thursday this week, is expected to award medals to family representatives of nine founding fathers of the region for their visionary role and leadership in the formation of SADC on April 1, 1980.

The late former President Robert Mugabe will be honoured among the founding fathers.

Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers also considered recommendations made by the Ministers responsible for Disaster Risk Management on strategies to mitigate the effects of disasters in the region, given the increased frequency of natural disasters.

The ministers recommended for Summit approval the Memorandum of Agreement that would operationalise the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre hosted by Mozambique in Nacala, Nampula Province. “We further emphasised the importance of the urgent operationalisation of the SADC Regional Disaster Preparedness Fund, which would support the functions of the Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre.

“Our meeting also considered the Secretariat’s Report on the 2022/2023 outlook of the region’s food and nutrition security situation. This discussion centred on the impact of recent global developments on the performance of our predominantly agro-based economies.

“In particular, we noted the high prices of important agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and fuel as well as the increase in the prices of basic foodstuffs such as wheat and cooking oil. This was a matter of particular interest to Zimbabwe given that one of our priorities under NDS1 is food and nutrition security,” he said.

The Council of Ministers also agreed on the urgent need to scale up localised production of key agricultural inputs and foodstuffs and further agreed to share information, technologies, experience and expertise in the implementation of programmes aimed at improving the food and nutrition security of our countries.

The importance of implementing climate-smart agricultural projects, such as Zimbabwe’s Pfumvudza, was highlighted as a short-term measure to reduce food and nutrition insecurity, while pursuing strategies that ensured long term resilience against droughts.

Council was also greatly concerned about violence against women and girls in the region and it “unequivocally denounced” all forms of gender- based violence and agreed on the urgent need to address its root causes.

The meeting also discussed progress in Member States’ efforts in fighting malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Covid-19.

“In particular, we noted that, over the past two years, African countries had greatly improved their Covid-19 responses. It was noted that several member States, including Zimbabwe, were already producing personal protective equipment, oxygen and other essential drugs,” said Ambassador Shava.

The Council of Ministers also took the time to reflect on the overall direction that the region should take in the 2022/23 year.

In this context, the upcoming 42nd summit will be held under the theme: “Promoting industrialisation through agro-processing, mineral beneficiation, and regional value chains for inclusive and resilient economic growth”.

This takes into account the current operating environment and the need to enhance the roll out of SADC’s industrialisation and market integration programmes.

Ambassador Shava said the theme for the summit provides impetus to the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap that will help the bloc’s economies to diversify from over-reliance on primary commodities, such as raw minerals and agricultural products into high-value manufactured products.

“Industrialisation is a key component of the development of our countries and the region and indeed it dovetails with Zimbabwe’s own Vision 2030,” he said.

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