The Southern African Development Community (SADC) reaffirmed yesterday in Windhoek, Namibia, its position of "non-alignment" on conflicts outside the region and the African continent.

"The summit adopted the draft African Union Declaration on the proposed US 'Countering Russian Malign Activities in Africa Act', and urged member states to communicate the SADC position, and reaffirmed the position of non-alignment on conflicts outside the continent and the region in multilateral fora," SADC leaders said at the end of a meeting in the Namibian capital.

At the meeting of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security, the heads of state of Namibia, Zambia, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) also praised the reform process of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane, while urging the government of the kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) to "urgently" start a "national dialogue", calling on "all interested parties" in the kingdom neighboring South Africa to "remain calm and participate peacefully in the national dialogue".

"The summit condemned all killings and damage to property in the kingdom of Eswatini, reiterated SADC's condemnation of the murder of Mr Thulani Rudolf Maseko, a leading human rights lawyer and political activist (...), and urged the government of the kingdom of Eswatini to carry out a prompt, transparent and comprehensive investigation into the murder of Mr Maseko," reads the organization's statement.

On insecurity in DRCongo, the document stressed that "the summit noted with deep concern the unstable security situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo" and "strongly condemned the upsurge in conflicts and activities of armed groups, including the M23 rebels, and the support provided to armed groups by foreign forces".

"The summit resolved to initiate dialogue between the member states of the different Regional Economic Communities (RECs) that have deployed forces in DRCongo with a view to establishing and implementing mechanisms for the effective coordination of their interventions," he said.

In addition to the Presidents of Namibia, Zambia, South Africa and DRCongo, the extraordinary summit of the Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security was attended by the heads of government of Lesotho and Eswatini.

The Republic of Mozambique was represented by the Minister of National Defense, Cristóvão Artur Chume, according to the final communiqué, to which Lusa had access.

The meeting was also attended by the head of the SADC military mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), the statement said.