Conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan are undermining trade and integration within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the trade bloc’s secretary general Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe has told foreign affairs ministers.
Speaking during the 20th Meeting of the Ministers Of Foreign Affairs at the ongoing 24th COMESA Summit, Kapwepwe called for urgent resolutions of conflicts in the two COMESA member states to sustain growth on intra-trade which has dropped in two consecutive years.
In the case of Sudan, Kapwepwe told ministers that despite efforts to negotiate peace to end the war which broke out in 2023, warring factions continue to violate peace terms a move which continue to generate losses to the bloc.
“As ceasefire violations, human rights abuses and destabilizing activities continue to worsen the conflict situation, we urge all involved parties to embrace dialogue as the only viable option of conflict resolution and urgently address the dire and deteriorating humanitarian situation,” she said.
Additionally, COMESA countries are being urged to urgently move in and address persistent the persistent conflict in Eastern DRC which has been brought about by the activities of the M23 rebel movement and various other armed groups.
“Not only has this conflict caused a severe humanitarian crisis, but it has also negatively impacted cross-border trade and economic activities, thus adversely affecting our regional integration efforts in the Great Lakes region. In addition, the persistent terrorist activities of al-Shabaab in Somalia have continued to undermine regional peace, security and development,” noted Kapwepwe.
Latest data indicate that last year, intra-COMESA trade dropped by 3.6pc to stand at $13.7 billion attributed to among others, insecurity, poor infrastructure, post harvest losses and reduced production of key commodities.
“We cannot afford to have these violent conflicts continue as they erode the regional development efforts that we have heavily invested in in the past and prevent us from initiating new ones,” she stated.
COMESA trade bloc currently has a GDP of $1.098 trillion with trade volume totaling $454 billion as of December last year.
