By Mast Reporter
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema’s decision to skip the high-level emergency meeting of Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state in Harare, Zimbabwe, to resolve the bloody conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a diplomatic blunder, Citizens First Harry Kalaba has said.
The summit was hosted by Zimbabwe’s president, Emerson Munangagwa.
Kalaba said it was a diplomatic snub for Hichilema to not attend a meeting across the Zambezi River and instead attend via zoom when he could have been physically there.
Hichilema’s physical presence would have shown the importance Zambia attaches to regional peace like other regional leaders.
“As a CF leader and as an ordinary peace loving Zambian, a former Foreign Affairs minister, my interpretation of Mr Hichilema’s absence in Harare is disrespect for both SADC and host, HE Mnangagwa, given our warm shared history with both SADC, DRC and hosts Zimbabwe,” Kalaba said.
“There’s no excuse for Mr HH to miss a meeting just 500 kilometres across the border when leaders from thousands of kilometres away flew for the indaba because a conflict in DRC could mean a conflict to the entire region. Mr HH needs to be serious with diplomacy, set aside personal feelings and think continental.”
Kalaba said the situation on the ground already showed that the conflict could draw in Burundi, Rwanda and others if regional leaders failed to act swiftly.
“We are happy that the outcome of the emergency meeting Mr HH missed appears upbeat that a solution could be found and the M23 rebels have been condemned,” Kalaba said.
Some 700 people have died in eastern Congo already as M23 has fully taken over the strategic city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, and started advancing to south Kivu and even Kisangani displacing hundreds of Congolese, especially women and children.
Kalaba urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “educate President Hichilema about the importance of good regional relations at the level of heads of state and avoid choosing friends”.
Kalaba was the first political leader in Zambia to call upon SADC and other regional leaders to stop the conflict between DRC and M23 rebels from escalating into a regional catastrophe that could see refugees pour into Zambia, including illegal arms that often accompany fleeing combatants.
Kalaba also described as a shame “the ability and deep desire of President Hichilema to embark on an expansive trip to Japan on a state visit soon with his usual huge entourages but snub a regional peace meeting across the border.
“Mr Hichilema is isolating himself from other regional leaders, but it’s Zambia that shall pay the ultimate price of peace and diplomacy because he is leaving next year,” he said.
Kalaba told Hichilema to ask himself “how long is the border Zambia shares with Congo?”
He urged Hichilema to wake up to the fact that Zambia was not an island.
While relations with Japan were vital, it was even more crucial to help boost relations regionally via direct meetings with SADC.
