2004 SADC Summit Final Communiqué

The Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), met in Grand Baie, Mauritius on 16-17 August, and was chaired by the Right Honourable, Mr Paul Raymond Berenger, Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius.

1. The Heads of State and Government of SADC present at the Summit were:

Angola H.E. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos

Botswana H.E. President Festus G. Mogae

Democratic Republic H. E. President Joseph Kabila
of Congo

Lesotho Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili

Malawi H.E. President Bingu wa Mutharika

Mauritius Hon. Prime Minister Paul Raymond
Berenger

Mozambique H.E. President Joaquim Chissano

Namibia H.E. President Sam Nujoma

South Africa H.E President Thabo Mbeki

Swaziland H. M. King Mswati III

United Republic H.E. President Benjamin W. Mkapa
of Tanzania

Zambia H.E. President Levy Mwanawasa

Zimbabwe H.E. President Robert G. Mugabe

2. Also in attendance were the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr Patrick Mazhimaka, the Secretary General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Dr Kasuka Mutukwa, the Vice President for Operations North, East and Southern Region of the African Development Bank, Mr. Theodore Nkodo and representatives of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the NEPAD Secretariat and the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa.

3. In his address to the opening session of the Summit, the outgoing SADC Chairperson, H.E. Benjamin William Mkapa, President of the United Republic of Tanzania outlined the major achievements of his tenure of office such as the launch of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), the adoption of the Declaration and Plan of Action on Agriculture and Food Security, the establishment an HIV and AIDS Unit at the Secretariat as well as the initiation of the process of establishing the SADC HIV and AIDS Trust Fund.

4. President Mkapa urged for more policy coherence and greater political will within SADC in order to lift the vision and focus from the national to the regional level. He warned that if SADC Member States were too bogged down by what they want out of accelerated integration nationally, they risk losing sight of the greater benefits awaiting them in the longer term. Quoting from the Report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation, President Mkapa called on SADC Member States to strengthen regional and sub-regional cooperation as a major vehicle for development and for a stronger voice in the governance of globalisation.

5. The incoming Chairperson of SADC, Hon. Paul Raymond Berenger, Prime Minister of Mauritius and host of the 2004 Summit, extended a warm welcome to SADC Heads of State and Government, and other delegates to Mauritius. He noted that although Mauritius was physically separated from the rest of the SADC countries by hundreds of kilometres of sea, Southern African countries were indivisibly bound together by their common objectives and endeavours and their shared vision of SADC as a powerful and prosperous community of nations.

6. The official opening ceremony was also addressed by His Excellency President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi who emphasised the need to strengthen young democracies through sound economic management, upholding the rule of law and respect for human rights. He also outlined some of the key challenges facing SADC such as the consolidation of SADC into a viable economic community, the integration of SADC into the global economy and building the necessary human resources capacity in the face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

7. The Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security (SIPO) was launched during official opening ceremony by the outgoing Chairperson of the Organ, the Rt. Hon. Pakalitha Mosisili of the Kingdom of Lesotho. In his launch statement, the Rt. Honourable Mosisili said the SIPO was an enabling instrument for the implementation of the SADC developmental agenda embodied in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP). He stressed that the core objective of SIPO is to create a peaceful and stable political and security environment within which the region will endeavour to realise its socio-economic objectives.

8. The official opening session also witnessed the ceremonial handover of the chairpersonship from H.E. President Benjamin W. Mkapa to Hon. Prime Minister Paul Berenger. Summit also elected H.E. President Festus G. Mogae of the Republic of Botswana as Deputy Chairperson of SADC.

9. In his acceptance statement, Prime Minister Paul Berenger assured the region that the issues that were pursued with drive by his predecessor, will remain at the top of SADC's regional integration agenda during his tenure of office. He urged the SADC region to remain fully conscious of the fact that economic growth and poverty alleviation are intricately linked to good governance and political stability. He therefore called on Member States to work together to remove all obstacles on the path to development in genuine democracy.

10. The new Chairperson said SADC has always endeavoured to promote dialogue with developing and developed country partners and noted the need to further strengthen existing ties and increase the number of dialogue partners. This is critical in order to get their understanding and collaboration on issues of a multilateral nature that are deemed important to the region. In this regard, he undertook to improve trade and investment relations between SADC and India as well as with China. The Prime Minister expressed the hope that with free and fair elections due in Zimbabwe at the beginning of next year, SADC can already start preparing for the normalisation of relations between SADC and the European Union and the United States of America.

11. Summit elected H.E. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, as Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation and H.E. Sam Nujoma of the Republic of Namibia as Deputy Chairperson.

12. The Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, Mr Patrick Mazhimaka also addressed the official opening of the Summit. He said that the AU has unveiled a new vision, mission and strategic framework, which define the objectives to be achieved including supporting measures for the acceleration of the process of regional integration for regional economic communities such as SADC. The new vision is a reflection of the AU's collective will and determination to move forward and to work towards not only economic but political, security, social and cultural and other forms of integration.

13. Mr Patrick Mazhimaka also briefed Summit on the African Union Extra-Ordinary Assembly on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa to be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 3-9 September 2004. The Assembly will be held under the theme "Strategies for Employment Creation/Promotion and Enhancing Sustainable Livelihoods" and will consider among others, a Declaration and a Plan of Action on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa. Summit called on the AU to ensure that the Declaration and Action Plan are action-oriented with clear deliverables.

14. In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of SADC, Dr Prega Ramsamy said that the economic growth rate of the region has been positive for the past ten years as a result of Member States concerted efforts and deliberate macro-economic measures such as trade, financial and capital markets liberalisation, reduction of budget deficits and reform of the public sector.

15. Dr Ramsamy also emphasised the need for Member States to ensure that the priorities of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) are integrated into the national development plans for effective implementation.

16. The official opening of the Summit also featured the announcement of the winners of the 2004 Regional Secondary Schools Essay Competition, the theme of which centred on water and its importance for social and economic development in the SADC region. The first prize was awarded to Samukelisiwe Dlamini of South Africa, the second prize to Robert Lusinje of Malawi and the third prize to Priyamvadha Doorgakant of Mauritius.

17. The 2004 Media Awards ceremony was also held during the official opening of the Summit. Four finalists received their prizes as follows: Mr Leonard Magomba, The Express newspaper, United Republic of Tanzania for Photojournalism; Mr Christopher Mwelwa Wapamesa, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation for Television; and Mr Takawira Musara, The Voice newspaper, Zimbabwe for Print. Mr Tshepo Ikaneng of the South African Broadcasting Corporation was awarded notable mention for the Radio category.

18. Summit received a report from the outgoing Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, the Rt. Hon. Mosisili of the Kingdom of Lesotho, which indicated that generally, peace and stability continue to prevail in the region. The report covered the final report on the structuring of the Organ, the consolidation of democracy in the region and defence and security matters.

19. On the DRC, Summit commended the President for his efforts aimed at bringing the on-going peace process to a successful conclusion. Summit deplored the continued unrest in the eastern part of the country and condemned the recent massacres committed in the refugee camp of Gatumba in Burundi. Summit also condemned the recent foiled coup attempt in Kinshasa on 10 June 2004 and commended the Government of the DRC for thwarting the attempt. In this regard, Summit reaffirmed that SADC will not tolerate any unconstitutional change of governments in the region. Therefore, Summit condemned the repeated attempts aimed at destabilising the DRC.

20. Summit mandated the Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security to field an evaluation mission to the DRC and neighbouring countries to determine and identify the practical modalities to promote peace and security in the DRC. The mission should also identify the strategies that SADC should implement to support the transition process and the organization of democratic elections in the DRC.

21. With regard to Swaziland, Summit noted that the Constitution drafting process undertaken by the country will be completed by the end of November 2004. Summit further noted that currently, the Draft Constitution has been referred to the citizens of the country to make their observations and comments before the final text is adopted through the Parliamentary process. Furthermore, the issue relating to the rule of law is receiving the Kingdom's necessary and expedient attention and it is hoped that the Court of Appeal will be constituted shortly.

22. Summit also noted that the Kingdom of Swaziland is committed to the transformation of the country and the Constitution is one of the vehicles that are being used to achieve this objective.

23. On Zimbabwe, Summit noted that the next Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe are scheduled for March 2005 and that this has already been publicly announced in Zimbabwe by H.E. President Robert Mugabe. In this connection, Summit was informed that the Government of Zimbabwe has drafted electoral legislation consistent with the newly adopted SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

24. Summit thanked Rt. Hon. Mosisili for ably steering the activities of the Organ for the past year.

25. Summit congratulated Malawi and South Africa for holding peaceful elections this year.

26. Summit adopted SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, which aim at enhancing the transparency and credibility of elections and democratic governance as well as ensuring the acceptance of election results by all contesting parties.

27. Summit reiterated the urgency of the Hashim Mbita Project, which is intended to document the history of the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa. To this end, Mozambique and Namibia pledged a monetary contribution of US$100 thousand each to support the project. Summit thanked Mozambique and Namibia for the contributions.

28. With regard to the economic situation in the region, Summit noted that the region achieved a GDP growth rate of 3.2% in 2003, the same as in 2002.

29. On energy, Summit observed that the power supply situation in the SADC region will reach crisis levels by 2007 if no concrete steps are taken to increase the Region's power generation capacity. Summit noted that several Member States have submitted projects for power generation capacity expansion in the context of short and long term priority plans covering 2005-2010 and 2011-2020 respectively. In this regard, Summit urged Member States to work closely with a view to fast track the implementation of the short-term priority power generation projects, in particular the expansion of the Inga Site project and Renewables.

30. Summit noted that the extent of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in the region has reached crisis proportions. The major contributing factors to the spread of the pandemic include widespread poverty, gender inequality, illiteracy, stigma and discriminations and inadequate health care delivery systems as well as substance abuse. Summit underscored the importance of nutrition and traditional medicine in addressing health challenges, in particular HIV and AIDS. In this regard, Summit noted the establishment of a Ministerial Committee on traditional medicine consisting of Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Committee will make proposals on the promotion of research on safety, efficacy and use of traditional medicine in addressing major diseases and nutritional supplements.

31. Summit expressed its appreciation to the Government of the Republic of South Africa for a donation of One Million Rand as its contribution to the SADC HIV and AIDS Trust Fund. Summit noted that a Task Team consisting of South Africa and Zimbabwe is developing guidelines on the utilization of the resources of the Trust Fund.

32. Summit approved the candidature of Dr Luis Gomes Sambo of Angola for the post of Regional Director for Africa at the World Health Organisation. Summit requested all Member States to support the candidature of Dr Sambo.

33. On Food Security, Summit noted marginal improvement in the food security situation in the region during the 2003/04 consumption year compared to the previous year. The number of people needing food assistance is projected to have dropped from 6.5 million in 2003/04 to 5.4 million in 2004/05.

34. Summit noted that projections for 2004/2005 consumption year indicate a cereal deficit of about 1.93 million tonnes, which is lower than that of 2003/2004 estimated at 2.96 million tonnes. This is due to the increased cereal production especially from Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

35. Summit commended the outgoing Chairperson, H.E. Mkapa for convening the Extraordinary SADC Summit on Agriculture and Food Security in May 2004. Summit urged all Member States to honour their commitments made in the Declaration adopted at the Summit.

36. On the issue of gender equality, Summit noted with satisfaction that the overall regional situation indicates that Member States are making progress in the promotion of women's representation in political and decision-making structures. There is also a deliberate and gradual increase in the proportion of women's representation in various structures in most Member States.

37. Therefore, Summit urged those Member States that have not attained the target to use the opportunities of the forthcoming elections and other measures to achieve the minimum 30% of women's representation in political and decision-making structures by 2005. Summit commended South Africa for surpassing the target in terms of women in Parliament and Cabinet.

38. Summit congratulated South Africa for successfully bidding for hosting the Pan African Parliament and the United Republic of Tanzania for the appointment of Hon. Getrude I. Mongella as the President of the Parliament.

39. Summit also noted the progress made in the Restructuring of SADC Institutions, which began in March 2001 and is now nearing completion.

40. With regard to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Summit noted the report of the High Level SADC Ministerial meeting on NEPAD. Summit noted that the issues discussed included an overview of the NEPAD Initiative; Synergies between NEPAD and RISDP; Democracy, Peace, Security and Governance; Agriculture, Food Security and Environment; Education and Health; Science and Technology; Infrastructure Development and Tourism; Resource Mobilisation and Capacity Building.

41. Summit agreed that the SADC representatives in the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee would, under the leadership of President Mbeki, regularly brief other Heads of State and Government on the implementation of the NEPAD Programme

42. Summit noted the launch of the negotiations with the European Union on the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement. Summit also noted that following the launch of the negotiations, the SADC EPA Ministers and the EC Commissioners held the first session of the negotiations and agreed on a joint Road Map, which will guide the negotiations.

43. Summit considered the application for membership from Madagascar and in accordance with the established new criteria, decided to accord it "candidate membership status" for a period of one year during which Madagascar will be expected to present to Council, through the Secretariat, a detailed time-frame and action plan indicating how it will meet its obligations, including the implementation of various SADC legal instruments. The President of Madagascar, H.E. Marc Ravalomanana attended the closing ceremony of the Summit and expressed appreciation to SADC for according his country "candidate membership status."

44. On the construction of the SADC headquarters, Summit approved the establishment of a task team comprising Ministers of Finance of the SADC Troika and the Troika of the Organ to mobilize resources for this project. All SADC Member States made an initial contribution totaling US$6,250 000 as seed money for the construction of SADC headquarters.

45. Summit approved the SADC anthem and that the anthem be performed in all Member States at all major SADC events and in all primary and secondary schools in all Member States on SADC Day - 17 August and SADC Creators' Day - 14 October.

46. On the 2010 World Cup, Summit congratulated South Africa for successfully bidding for the World Cup and urged SADC Member States to cooperate with South Africa in order to ensure the successful hosting of this event. Summit further noted that the Ministers of Sports, Tourism and Information will draw up strategies to ensure that the region benefits from hosting the World Cup.

47. Summit accepted the offer by the H.E. Festus G. Mogae to host the next Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government in August 2005.

48. Summit thanked His Excellency President Benjamin Mkapa for his able leadership and the accomplishments of SADC during his tenure of office.

49. Summit thanked representatives of other regional and continental organisations for attending the 2004 Summit.

50. Summit expressed its appreciation to the Government and people of the Republic of Mauritius for hosting the Summit and for the warm hospitality extended to all delegates. Summit also thanked the SADC Secretariat for the successful organisation of the Summit.

51. Summit expressed its gratitude to the international community for the support extended to SADC.

52. His Excellency, President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique addressed the official closing ceremony and bid farewell to his colleagues as he retires at the end of 2004. He noted that he has been associated with SADC since its inception and has seen it evolve and score successes that have build its name internationally. He stressed that following the adoption of the RISDP and SIPO, the challenge was now to develop concrete plans of action and how to engage all stakeholders in their implementation and mobilisation of resources, particularly from within the region.

53. Also bidding farewell to his colleagues was His Excellency, President Sam Nujoma of Namibia who retires in March 2005.

54. Hon. Berenger officially closed the Summit and undertook to pursue some outstanding tasks on the restructuring of the organization. He identified the following as priorities during his tenure of office:
implementation of the SADC Protocols by spelling out concrete programmes of community-building through regional integration;
operationalisation of the two major development plans - the SADC RISDP and SADC SIPO and building the necessary synergy with NEPAD;
rationalisation of the various Committees, both technical and ministerial so that we get value for money;
increasing the credibility of SADC vis-à-vis our international cooperating partners;
forging strong relationships with sub-regional, continental and multilateral organisations; and
encouraging our member states to align their national policies to regional cooperation so that they stay on course in the globalisation process and also make a significant dent on poverty.

55. H.E Festus G. Mogae of the Republic of Botswana passed a vote of thanks in which he invited his colleagues to attend the next ordinary Summit in Gaborone, Botswana in 2005. President Mogae commended Mauritius for demonstrating beyond a shadow of doubt that it is committed to the SADC Treaty by ratifying most of the protocols as well as paying its contributions in full and on time. He said the people of SADC were looking forward to Mauritius' dynamic and able leadership of SADC in the coming year both in terms of the implementation of policies and programmes as well as in dealing with International Cooperating Partners.

Grand Baie,
Mauritius
August 17, 2004