The Southern African Development Community (SADC) organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, after failing to break the deadlock over the formation of a new Zimbabwean government at a meeting in Swaziland, referred the matter to a full emergency summit of SADC heads of state. The government of South Africa announced that it would host that 15 nation summit aimed at bringing together SADC leaders ‘to save the power-sharing deal, seen as the best hope for ending months of political turmoil and halting Zimbabwe’s stunning economic collapse’. Meanwhile, President Jakaya Kikwete and Chairperson Jean Ping, acknowledging that there was need for immediate action to prevent further escalation of the humanitarian crisis in the North Kivu Province, announced that the AU was ready to restore peace in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). An AU special envoy has been sent to DRC and to its neighbouring countries to promote ‘a holistic approach to the current crisis, building on existing instruments and mechanisms whose implementation already enjoys the strong support of the international community’.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the regional integration division of the Economic Commission for Africa has launched an Observatory to assist policy makers, member States, regional economic communities and all stakeholders with timely and relevant information on current progress, challenges and issues related to regional integration in Africa. Member States of the East Africa Community have asked experts to identify possible complications to free movement of services as negotiations for the region’s common market focus on transport policy, competition and consumer welfare, approximation of laws and various commercial policies. The first session of the AU conference of ministers in charge of social development held in Namibia was intended to develop a comprehensive social policy framework that reflects countries’ commitment towards the Millennium Development Goals.

In other news, South Africa minister of trade and industry, in his acceptance speech as incoming chairperson of the conference of African Ministers of Trade (CAMI) bureau, called for the full use African intellectual, human, historical and natural resources to realise Africa’s potential. The AU Commissioner for economic affairs announced that the commission, in collaboration with the African Development Bank, was organising a conference of ministers of finance and central bank governors to discuss the impact of the global crisis on African economies, its impact on the Bank and also examine its impact on aid to Africa. The secretary general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said that the proposed free trade area between COMESA, the East Africa Community and Southern African Development Community would reduce the costs of doing business and give way to an Africa-wide economic community. Finally, an analyst comments on the recently concluded extraordinary session of the African Peer Review Mechanism.