In his capacity as president of the SADC, Lourenço will take part on Saturday in the extraordinary meeting that will address the situation in the region, particularly in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in Cabo Delgado, in the north of Mozambique.

The summit will bring together in Lusaka the members of SADC, consisting of Angola, as chair-in-office; Zimbabwe, as incoming chair; and the DRC, as chair. Also in attendance will be representatives of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation (Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania), the countries contributing troops to the SADC mission in DRC (SAMIDRC), and those maintaining troops in Mozambique (SAMIM).

President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema will chair the summit as president of the body, and will provide participants with an update on the progress made by the missions.

The worsening of clashes with rebels in the east of the DRC and terrorist activity in Cabo Delgado constitute the two main sources of insecurity and conflict in the region, hence the importance that the Community attaches to pacification and the presence of military missions.

The SAMIM is composed by Angola, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe; while the SAMIDRC received soldiers from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania, who work in collaboration with the Government of the DRC.

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