AU Chief Presses SADC Leaders on Regional Integration Mandate at Durban Summit
AU Chairperson demands accountability from SADC on institutional delivery and regional coordination
DURBAN — The 1991 Abuja Treaty, which established regional integration as a foundational principle for African growth, sat at the centre of a pointed accountability argument delivered at the 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government in Durban.
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, African Union Chairperson, used the opening session at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre to press African leaders directly: three decades after that foundational commitment, he said, they now bear responsibility for ensuring the institutional framework actually functions. The summit is convened under the theme “Resilient, sustainable and inclusive industrialisation through infrastructure development, agricultural and critical minerals transformation in pursuit of a just World.”
Youssouf framed the relationship between continental and regional governance structures as reciprocal and non-negotiable. The African Union requires strong regional economic communities to operate. Those communities, in turn, depend on a capable African Union to coordinate continental efforts and align shared priorities.
“A stronger African Union needs strong regional economic communities and strong regional economic communities need an African Union capable of ensuring continental coherence and advancing our common priorities,” he stated. He called for an institutional architecture that clarifies responsibilities, strengthens coordination mechanisms and, most critically, delivers tangible results for African populations.
The AU Chairperson highlighted SADC’s historical role in the continent’s integration project, noting that the bloc’s contributions extend beyond Southern Africa. Peace, security, regional integration, infrastructure development and economic transformation, he said, each advance the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Youssouf specifically cited the 2021 Revised Protocol on relations between the African Union and regional economic communities as the framework enabling closer collaboration between the two tiers of governance.
Recent operational cooperation has begun to test that framework in practice. Youssouf referenced joint efforts to address security challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar as concrete examples of coordinated action. Consultations between AU Commission leadership and regional economic communities have become more frequent, he noted, with mid-year coordination meetings now focused on implementation and complementarity rather than procedural matters. “We must build on this progress,” he insisted.
Meanwhile, Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, reinforced the case for regional coordination by pointing to industrial capacity already present within Southern Africa. South Africa’s established automotive supply networks, Botswana’s growing diamond polishing, cutting and trading operations, and Zimbabwe’s investment in lithium processing, he argued, demonstrate that the region already holds the foundation for competitive industrial transformation.
Gatete was direct about where the gaps remain: implementation, strategic investment, robust institutions and partnership around a shared vision. No single nation, he argued, holds all the resources, technology or capabilities necessary for global competition. SADC collectively possesses the minerals, agricultural capacity, energy resources, financial infrastructure, port facilities, skilled workforce and market access required to build competitive regional production networks.
The summit brings together SADC member states at a moment when the bloc’s coordination with continental governance structures has become more formalized. Both Youssouf and Gatete framed stronger regional institutions not as ends in themselves but as the mechanisms through which Africa can achieve sustainable development and competitive positioning in global markets. Whether the 2021 Revised Protocol and the coordination meetings it has enabled will translate into measurable delivery remains the open question hanging over the proceedings.
Q&A
What accountability argument did the African Union Chairperson present at the SADC summit?
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf pressed SADC leaders on their responsibility to ensure the institutional framework established by the 1991 Abuja Treaty actually functions three decades after that foundational commitment, framing the relationship between continental and regional governance structures as reciprocal and non-negotiable.
What governance framework enables coordination between the African Union and regional economic communities?
The 2021 Revised Protocol on relations between the African Union and regional economic communities provides the framework for closer collaboration between the two tiers of governance, with mid-year coordination meetings now focused on implementation and complementarity.
What concrete examples of coordinated action did Youssouf cite?
Youssouf referenced joint efforts to address security challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar as concrete examples of coordinated action between the AU and SADC.
What regional industrial capacity does SADC already possess according to UN Economic Commission for Africa leadership?
Claver Gatete cited South Africa's established automotive supply networks, Botswana's growing diamond polishing, cutting and trading operations, and Zimbabwe's investment in lithium processing as evidence that the region holds the foundation for competitive industrial transformation.