From the shadows to the spotlight: Chihana’s stunning SADC comeback

Predident Peter Mutharika handed his long-overlooked Second Vice President Enoch Chihana a moment in the sun yesterday — tasking him with opening one of southern Africa’s most powerful summits.

For a man who has repeatedly been passed over on matters of protocol, it was a significant and telling choice.

Chihana stepped confidently into the spotlight to represent Malawi at the Extraordinary SADC Organ Troika Summit of Heads of State and Government in Lilongwe, wasting no time in declaring the gathering crucial for tackling the region’s most pressing peace and security challenges.

And there was no shortage of fires to fight. Top of the agenda was Madagascar — a political tinderbox that has forced SADC to dispatch no fewer than three shuttle diplomacy missions since an emergency summit in December last year.

The Government of Madagascar has since tabled its Programme of National Refoundation, but seasoned observers say a clean resolution remains a distant prospect.

Then there was the Democratic Republic of Congo — a crisis so deeply entrenched that even Chihana chose his words carefully, describing the matters on the table as “complex” and demanding “careful consideration.”

In a moment of rare candour, Chihana admitted that pulling SADC troops out of eastern DRC was a difficult call — but stood firmly behind it.

“SADC remains committed to continued engagement,” he insisted, even as he painted a stark picture of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding on the ground.

Rounding off a packed agenda were the final report of the SADC Panel of Elders and a proposed goodwill mission to the DRC — clear signals that the region has no intention of turning its back on one of Africa’s most devastating conflicts.

For Chihana, however, the summit’s outcome may matter far less than the symbolism of simply being there.

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