SADC conflict resolution protocol to be tabled

A protocol on resolving conflicts among the 14 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member nations is expected to be submitted to the SADC summit in August, a South African foreign ministry official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Horst Brammer from the foreign ministry's SADC desk said at a briefing to parliament's foreign affairs committee that the protocol would outline a step-by-step approach to resolving conflicts in SADC countries. Brammer said that aim of the protocol was to "prevent such situations as are being experienced in some members states from happening in the future". The protocol will define "a common approach to prevent conflict changing from dispute to violence," he said. If accepted by heads of government at the August SADC summit in Windhoek, it will have to be ratified by the 14 member states, obliging them to put the interests of the region above their own national agendas, he said.