SADC Peacekeeping Missions and the Quest for Regional Security: From Congo to Mozambique

Over the past decades, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region had enjoyed peace and stability and was considered one of the most peaceful regions in Africa. Since 2017, but the eruption of terrorism in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado resource community and resurgence of violent conflict in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has compelled SADC to respond through military interventions. The chapter reflects on the root causes of regional insecurity in the Southern African region, contends with SADC’s peace and security architecture, and examines the role of SADC’s peacekeeping missions in enforcing peace and order in the region. The chapter draws from the cases of Mozambique and DRC to explore the performance of SADC in security regionalism. The chapter finds that divergent complexity of the conflict in the region has affected the capacity of SADC to intervene effectively. It thus proffers suggestions on the roadmap to peace and stability of the Southern Africa region.