Lilongwe – President Jacob Zuma has joined regional leaders at the conclusion of the SADC summit in Malawi in calling for Egyptian authorities to restore constitutional order in the violence-torn country.
President Zuma said leaders were in agreement that the situation in that country could not be tolerated.
“… We cannot accept that the government there, [which was] constitutionally and properly elected … [must now] be removed… We call on Egyptians to return to normalcy in that country. The crisis has been deepening and we must do everything we can to help the Egyptians,” Zuma told reporters as he prepared to leave Malawi on Sunday.
He described the two-day Southern African Development [SADC] summit as generally successful and said South Africa was happy about the outcome.
He said SADC continued to bring hope to millions of people, adding that the region was more peaceful and prosperous than before.
The summit elected Malawian President Joyce Banda as the new chairperson of the regional body, with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as her deputy. Banda becomes the first woman to chair SADC.
“This shows that [we take the] empowerment of women seriously as a body. We seem to be moving very strongly towards giving women the possibility of occupying decision making positions,” Zuma said.
In her speech, Banda said SADC had significantly steered the region towards economic integration, peace and democracy. She called on regional leaders to continue attracting investors to the region’s infrastructure development programmes.
“I’m pleased to note that we generally have peace and stability in the region, despite a few pockets of political insecurity.
“On the economic front, the summit noted food security and nutrition as a major economic challenge for the region,” said Banda.
Earlier, the summit resolved to reiterate the call for the lifting of sanctions on Zimbabwe so that country can find its way to economic recovery.
Leaders also welcomed the deployment of the SADC’s intervention brigade to the Democratic Republic of Congo to contain the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the eastern part of that country. – SAnews.gov.za
