Glossary and brief description of terms

Published in Towards implementation of the Southern African Regional Action Programme on Light Arms and Illicit trafficking

8-9 September 1999
Pretoria, South Africa

Seminar report

edited by Andrew McLean and Elizabeth Clegg

SADC

Founded in 1980 as the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC), the organisation’s members originally included Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and (from 1990) Namibia. SADCC became the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 1992. As part of this transformation, co-operation in the area of ‘politics, diplomacy, international relations, peace and security’ was added to the mandate of SADC. In 1994, South Africa joined SADC, and its security dimension widened to incorporate conflict management. Since then, the number of SADC members have increased to fourteen, with the accession of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius and Seychelles.

SADC Institutions include: Summits (heads of state); Council of Ministers (involving the appropriate minister from each state); Secretariat, Sectoral Committees and Commissions (guiding regional policies and programmes in specific areas); and a Standing Committee of Officials (consisting of a permanent official delegated from each member state).

A political and security ‘leg’ was formalised following the June 1996 Summit Meeting in Gaborone, with the establishment of the Organ on Politics, Defence, and Security Co-operation. Its focus is on preventive action, but the Organ currently exists only at the level of the Heads of State and the Inter-State Defence and Security Committee (ISDSC).


SARPCCO

The Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) provides a forum within which national law enforcement agencies can exchange information. Its members are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. During its regular law enforcement meetings in the region, it has passed a number of resolutions intended to curb the illegal trade in firearms and ammunition. Signatories to these resolutions are urged to extend maximum co-operation, particularly in the exchange of criminal intelligence information, in combating the illegal trade in firearms, and facilitate the detection and interception of the flow of ammunition within and across national borders.


EU

The European Union was established as the European Economic Community in 1957. It currently comprises fifteen member states: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The EU has three pillars: the first deals with traditional areas of EC competence, including trade, agriculture, development co-operation, environmental protection and cohesion; the second deals with foreign and security policy; the third deals with justice and home affairs. Institutions of the European Union include: the Council of Ministers; the European Commission; the European Parliament; and the European Court of Justice.


OAU

The Organisation of African Unity was established in 1963, and consists of a General Secretariat, the Council of Ministers, and the Assembly of Heads of State and Government. From its inception, it has been involved in the settlement and management of disputes.

On 30 June 1993, the OAU established its Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution, designed to co-operate closely with, and complement UN peacekeeping missions.