The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has urged Lesotho to implement its reforms roadmap without any further delay.
It has been a long journey to resolve the impasse in Lesotho following the attempted coup' against the government in 2014 and the SADC has signalled that its losing patience.
At its 38th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government held in the Namibian capital, Windhoek on Friday and Saturday, the 15-nation sub-regional grouping noted that despite a number of its initiatives, progress on the implementation of the reforms roadmap and national dialogue remains slow.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is the SADC Facilitator for the Lesotho national dialogue in the Mountain Kingdom, told the Summit: We will not tolerate any of the role players trying to delay, derail or frustrate the holding of the national dialogue.
Member states have been called upon to take any necessary measure against those who are threatening to delay the reforms. The SADC called on all stakeholders to demonstrate political will to implement the reforms.
The summit congratulated member states which held elections in the past year and commended President Joseph Kabila of the democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for upholding the country's Constitution by providing funding to enable peaceful elections, due on Dec 23.
Regarding peace and security, the bloc committed itself to maintaining peace and called on all member nations to allow democracy to reign. New SADC chair and Namibia President Hage Geingob said people should experience change and that SADC initiatives should produce tangible results.
Meanwhile, the body has called for continued consultations in relation to the ongoing institutional reforms of the Africa Union.
Tanzania will host the next SADC summit in 2019.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
