The Southern African Development Community (SADC) announced Friday the creation of a rapid reaction peacekeeping force for deployment around the continent, DPA reported. The second and final day of the SADC annual summit in the Zambian capital Lusaka decided that the brigade would be integrated into the African Union's Standby Force, South African radio reported. The leaders also discussed regional integration and the crisis situation in Zimbabwe. South African President Thabo Mbeki was scheduled to present his mediation report on Zimbabwe as delegated by the extraordinary SADC summit in Dar-es-Saalam last March. The SADC leaders' action are to be based on Mbeki's recommendations. However, it was not clear whether his report would be made public or not. Heads of state of the 14 members of the SADC were in attendance.
