The Inter-state Defence and Security Committee

The Inter-State Defence and Security Committee (ISDSC) was established as a substructure of the FLS by Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia in 1975. The ISDSC therefore predates both SADC and SARPCCO structures and has a degree of historical salience that continues to infuse its existence to this day.

Historically, the ISDSC advised and implemented the decisions and resolutions of the FLS Summit meetings. At the time of its establishment, the ISDSC was essentially a ministerial committee where ministers responsible for Defence, Home Affairs, Police, State Security, Intelligence and eventually Immigration Services met to discuss issues relating to their individual and collective security requirements and those related to the liberation struggle.95 Similar to the FLS Summit, the ISDSC had no charter or constitution, neither did it have a headquarters or secretariat. Yet, it was more formally structured than the FLS Summit. The Committee met twice a year or as often as necessary. Its meetings were preceded by meetings of officials and, similar to the FLS Summit, the heads of the military wings of the active liberation movements were invited to both officials and ministerial meetings.96

When the FLS was disbanded, the ISDSC was retained and its membership was expanded to include all SADC member states.97 As a result, Malawi, South Africa and Swaziland also became members. Mauritius was welcomed as the twelfth member at the annual conference of the ISDSC held in Lilongwe during October 1996. In November 1997, the DRC and the Seychelles were accepted as members following their accession to membership of SADC.98

Having evolved informally, the ISDSC did not have a formal legal base similar to that of either SADC or SARPCCO, nor an executive secretary or permanent secretariat. Different from the FLS Summit, however, the ISDSC did keep detailed minutes of its proceedings — although its irregular press releases that followed meetings were intended to mislead more than to inform. Meetings of the ISDSC Ministerial Committee (as a whole) are still chaired by the minister of Defence of the host country. The ISDSC ministerial meeting is preceded by an Officials Plenary Meeting and followed by meetings of the subcommittees for Defence, Public Security and State Security — also chaired by the host country — which later report back to the plenary meeting. The various sub-substructures of these committees meet outside of and at different times than the annual ISDSC meetings. The country that hosts the annual ISDSC meeting automatically becomes chairperson for that particular session and retains the position until the next ISDSC session. The host country also provides the secretariat for the meeting.

United in a common struggle to liberate the region, ISDSC members shared their review of the security situation and co-ordinated their defence against armed attack. Despite the fact that Lesotho was not a member of the FLS, it participated in a number of committee meetings at a time when the government of Chief Leabua Jonathan was becoming increasingly militant and anti-apartheid prior to the 1986 coup that overthrew his government.99

By 1999, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs would summarise the key functions of the three ISDSC subcommittees as follows:100

Defence: to review and share experiences on the prevailing military security situation in member states; to explore areas of further multilateral military co-operation and practical means for its realisation; to exchange views and propose mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.



Public security: to co-ordinate public security activities in the subregion; to exchange experience and information between member states on public security issues such as motor vehicle theft, drug-trafficking, counterfeit currency, illegal immigrants, forged travel documents and firearm-smuggling; and to explore areas and means of enhancing co-operation among police agencies in the subregion.



State security: to review the security situation in the subregion and to analyse issues affecting respective member states, including political instability, armed conflict, influx of refugees, religious extremism and organised crime; to recommend appropriate measures to deal with potential threats to the stability of the subregion; and to consider ways of consolidating and expanding co-operation between member states on matters relating to state security.

Issues dealt with at the 20th ISDSC meeting in Swaziland included the following:

the security situation in member countries as it affects these countries;



military training;



peacekeeping training and capacity-building;



the establishment of a national maritime authority for law enforcement at sea;



motor vehicle thefts;



the SADC Protocol on Illicit Drug Trafficking;



firearms-licencing;



legislation regarding penalties for the rape and abuse of women and children, educational campaigns against these offences, as well as the establishment of specialised units to deal with such crimes;



threats of terrorism;



illegal immigration;



the regulation of private security companies and the prevention of mercenary activities; and



sanctions against UNITA.

At previous meetings, the ISDSC also discussed:

the prevention of aggression from within and outside the region;



the prevention of coups d’états;



the management and resolution of conflicts;



early warning;



the promotion of regional stability and peace; and



the enhancement of regional development.

Apart from its three subcommittees, the ISDSC has also established ad hoc committees, as was the case with the Ad Hoc Committee on Cross-Border Crime that sought to end support for UNITA. This committee consisted of ministers from Angola, the DRC, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe (chair). Its broad task was to propose regional mechanisms to deal with illegal supplies to UNITA. The first meeting of the committee occurred in Harare during November 1997 and a task force of officials from the Police, Army, Air Force, Civil Aviation, Customs, Immigration and State Security was set up. The terms of reference of the task force was to monitor suspicious aircraft traffic, including airports, airstrips and border posts. It also had to investigate all alleged violations of Angolan airspace, including all allegations of UNITA activities in the subregion, companies and individuals providing logistic support to UNITA, drug-trafficking and weapons-smuggling, and to ensure that member countries did not violate UN sanctions against UNITA.

After a number of meetings, the task force agreed that member countries would each set up a national information centre (NIC) to co-ordinate the national operations of the task force, and a regional information centre in Harare to co-ordinate the various NICs. The task force soon lost momentum, however, and held its last meeting in June 1998 reflecting, probably, the lack of a common commitment to the sanctions issue.

The following sections discuss each of the three subcommittees in turn.

The various substructures of the Defence Subcommittee are grouped into a functional group, standing committees and professional committees — with a number of sub-substructures as depicted in Figure 5. As a result, operations, intelligence, personnel and logistics all form part of the functional group, while medical, legal and chaplaincy services are represented in professional committees. A consultative committee composed of the permanent secretaries of Defence has also been created. The sub-subcommittees are Operations, Defence Intelligence, Standing Aviation, Standing Maritime,101 Military Chaplains Work Group,102 and Military Medical Services Work Group.103

The Operations Sub-subcommittee is the most important of the subcommittees and has been requested to co-ordinate, liaise and implement decisions and directives given by the Defence Subcommittee. Meetings of the Operations Sub-subcommittee are therefore convened as and when necessary or when directed by the Defence Subcommittee.104

During the recent ISDSC meetings in Mbabane, the Defence Subcommittee agreed that:105

Eventually, the Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre that has recently been built next to the Zimbabwe Staff College in Harare would also fall under the ISDSC in accordance with its character and stature as the regional centre for the provision of common peacekeeping training within SADC.

By its nature, co-operation in the field of intelligence is not well suited for multilateral interaction, and the bulk of co-operation in intelligence occurs at the bilateral level. Issues that have apparently appeared on the agenda of the State Security Subcommittee include the escalation of conflict in Angola and the DRC, air traffic violations, unconstitutional changes of government, the activities of dissident groups and measures to improve co-ordination among the region’s intelligence community.

After the bombing of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi late in 1998, the State Security Subcommittee would have the 1999 ISDSC Ministerial Meeting recommend to the heads of state that "[a] specialised committee be established to examine the threat of terrorism in the region and present a detailed report to the next session." The meeting further decided that

"A mechanism at national and regional levels be put in place with the purpose of detecting: the origins of terrorists; their sources of funding; and the planning and execution of terrorist activities. The mechanism should also identify quick methods of successful investigation, which can lead to quick and effect arrest of the culprits."

The agenda of the Public Security Subcommittee has included discussions on the following:

The Public Security Subcommittee also has a number of subsidiary structures, including sub-subcommittees on customs and immigration.

The Customs Sub-subcommittee deals with enforcement issues (as opposed to trade), including the management of transit goods, smuggling and drug-trafficking.

The Sub-subcommittee for Heads of Immigration has dealt with issues such as:

Although the ISDSC has no permanent structure or legal basis, it has already made an important contribution to build confidence and trust among member countries in the post-apartheid Southern African region. As it has expanded, however, it has become an increasingly unwieldy and cumbersome structure, placing heavy demands on political leaders that meet in successive subcommittees.

The pre-eminence of the military, security and intelligence portfolios within the ISDSC, which is chaired by the ministers of Defence of SADC countries on a rotational basis (Swaziland chaired in 1999) remains an anomaly. For this reason, the recent proposals regarding the Organ and the establishment of a committee of ministers chaired by Foreign Affairs are welcome developments. The focus of the Organ is on preventive action, which clearly places the responsibility for interaction and liaison primarily within the domain of diplomacy rather than military action.

The eventual formalisation of the Organ must impact upon the way in which the ISDSC presently operates, including its international legal basis (presently non-existent) and the issue of who should chair it (presently Defence). Most controversial is the fact that there is neither room, nor tolerance for the involvement of non-state actors in areas such as the monitoring of human rights, early warning, research, and many others.106

A number of proposals are included in the final pages of this monograph that seek to address some of these glaring challenges.