WILL SADC SEND ITS TROOPS?

On Sunday, September 25, 2022, the Times SUNDAY newspaper’s front page had the headline ‘SADC coming to address security challenges’.

Some readers, particularly those advocating for political reforms, shared strong sentiments regarding the article’s content, which brought to their attention that the 42nd Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, which was held in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ON August 17, 2022, referred to the Eswatini situation as a security challenge. This was based on the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini having presented, to the summit, a brief report on a ‘security situation’ and not a ‘political issue’. SADC then took a resolution on the basis of this report; and the resolution was to mandate the chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation to convene an extraordinary summit of the Organ Troika plus Eswatini, whose date is yet to be determined.

The extraordinary summit is aimed at finding a peaceful and lasting solution to the security challenges facing the country. The feeling among the advocates for political reforms is that SADC’s visit to Eswatini should be for political reasons, not security concerns. Their view is that SADC should push government and the country’s authorities to convene a political dialogue. However, government’s stance is that there are existing security challenges that are preventing the convening of the much-envisaged political dialogue.

Threats

Countless acts of arson, intimidation, coercion, threats and random killing of the State security officers are the security challenges cited as reason for not convening the political dialogue. Should the SADC Organ Troika make a similar determination as that of government on the challenges facing the kingdom, the most likelihood is to recommend the deployment of troops. Could events of the past weeks cement government’s position on the country’s situation?

A new wave of acts of deadly violence has been witnessed these past two weeks. Three security officers (two police officers and one Correctional Services officer) have been shot dead this week and these killings have been attributed to a group that identifies itself as the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces. Some members of this group have been identified as reneged officers of His Majesty’s Correctional Services. Besides these three murdered officers, there’s another army officer who was killed in front of his family on Wednesday evening but it is not clear whether this is linked to the ongoing unrest. Another army officer escaped with a gunshot wound when he was shot at while in his homestead at LaMgabhi last week Friday and this incident has been associated with the works of the Solidarity Forces.

Claimed

There are now at least seven security officers who have been killed and their deaths claimed by the Solidarity Forces. Alongside the deaths are recent arsons attacks on tinkhundla centres. The recent violent acts prompted the Prime Minster, Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, to call a press conference where he unequivocally condemned all acts, methods, and practices of terrorism. “No act of violence in whatever form can be justified, regardless of the motive. Government calls upon all emaSwati to, individually and collectively, stand up against terrorism. Someone out there knows these people and can help end the violence. Let us stop hiding these criminals,” he said. Government, the PM said, will continue to put more effort in protecting emaSwati against these terrorist elements. “We will not hesitate to bring to book anyone found guilty of these activities and will not rest until each and every one of them is brought to justice. We cannot allow the senseless killings of innocent emaSwati to continue unabated,” the PM further said. He went on to condemn what he said was “the irrational arson attacks on tinkhundla centres. What these criminals and their masters do not understand is that Tinkhundla is more than just a physical structure; it is a ‘political system’ that is entrenched in the political fabric of emaSwati.”
The SADC extraordinary summit plus Eswatini will most certainly not ignore this latest wave of violence. With the backdrop of the report that was given by the Eswatini Government during the summit in the DRC, SADC might be convinced that indeed there is a security challenge in the kingdom.

Concluded

The government, judging by the PM’s posture during Wednesday’s press conference, has concluded that the kingdom is faced with acts of terrorism. Just as SADC did, and continues to do, in Mozambique where troops from the regional bloc have been deployed to deal with an insurgency, we could just witness the same approach when it comes to Eswatini. Will SADC reach the same determination of Eswatini being faced with acts of terrorism? One would first need to understand how terrorism is described.

Terrorism is basically associated with the use of violence to achieve a desired goal. However, having a generally acceptable definition of terrorism has been a subject of controversy due to issues such as a basis for when the use of violence (directed at whom, by whom, for what ends) is appropriate and legitimate. Even in the United Nations (UN), a consensus has hardly been reached as to what terrorism should mean. However, the UN Security Council in its Resolution 1566 of 2004 defines terrorism as ‘criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organisation to do or to abstain from doing any act.’ The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2018) stated that, in broad terms, terrorism can be understood basically as a means of coercion which threatens to or uses violence to spread fear and hence, achieve certain political or ideological goals, which are quite different from normal violence.

Agreed

   It is agreed that terrorism has continued to be a global phenomenon affecting societies, countries, regions, and continents of the world, with devastating effects on both individuals and the State. It is for that reason that the UN Security Council, in its resolution, recalls that criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organisation to do or to abstain from doing any act, which constitute offences within the scope of and as defined in the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism, are under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature, and calls upon all States to prevent such acts and, if not prevented, to ensure that such acts are punished by penalties consistent with their grave nature.

A research on ‘Violent Transformations in Africa: Coup d’Etat, Civil Wars and Terrorism in the Crisis of Democracy’, noted how Africa has recurrently been characterised by political instability and attempts of coup d’état, civil wars and, in the last few years, terrorism, generally of Islamic matrix. Since 2010, more than 40 coups d’états have reportedly been carried out. In many cases, they are recorded as having succeeded, leading as their main consequence to rapid political change. It is reported that at the same time, the growing crisis of democracy in Africa – as all the international rankings show – led to civil wars and forms of protests, and to the formation of terrorist groups throughout the continent, with ties to international terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The latter point could ring closer to home when it comes to the Eswatini situation, as the country has seen the emergence of groups with terrorist tendencies, witnessed forms of protests and even insinuations of a civil war all caused by the calls for political change. But the research also notes that political institutional changes do not tell the whole history.

Adopt

It notes that despite the efforts made in the 1990s by many African States to adopt democratic constitutions and regimes, the number of coups d’état and political violence have not diminished, registering a significant increment in the last few years. “African democracies became formal structures which respect human rights, the right to expression and political competition; nevertheless, their essence, in many cases, maintained the characteristics of authoritarian regimes, without any chance for a political change carried out through formal electoral processes,” the research points out. This salient observation is not to be ignored. As Eswatini goes through turbulent times, the fact that in other countries where coups d’état and political violence has been used to achieve political change, the opposite has been achieved. The situations have turned out to be worse than before the change. As we ponder on this, we await the SADC Organ Troika to decide on the Eswatini situation; will they send the SADC Standby Force?  

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