Botswana has accepted to host the Southern African Development Community (SADC) depot for rapid deployment of the bloc’s standby forces.
Speaking at the signing ceremony of the memorandum of agreement on Thursday for the depot between SADC and Botswana, the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Kagiso Mmusi said the storehouse will facilitate SADC to act promptly to save lives and prevent crises from escalating.
“The recent deployment of SADC forces in Mozambique has demonstrated that we need this Depot to be functional as soon as it possibly can,” said Mmusi.
He further said the agreement will create a framework to regulate the roles and responsibilities of the Botswana and the SADC Secretariat in the establishment of the depot.
Mmusi also appealed for assistance from the international community in mobilizing funding for the facility and other humanitarian relief efforts.
“Development of this depot is one of those actions that will show our commitment to regional peace,” said Mmusi.
Meanwhile, the SADC regional logistics depot will be used for storing material, equipment and end-user stocks, to be used in peace keeping operations and humanitarian relief efforts by the SADC Standby Force. Enditem
