At a press briefing last week, Lesotho’s Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili explained that while the writing off of the debt would dig a deep hole in the SADC's financial resources, it was considered necessary to facilitate the readmission of the Seychelles back into the group.

The Seychelles withdrew from the SADC in 2004 because it could not pay the US$550,000 annual SADC membership fee.

While Seychelles is relatively prosperous among African countries, the government is saddled with huge debts which equal about 167% of its gross domestic product and consequently lacks adequate foreign exchange reserves.

The SADC Secretariat has been mandated to assist the Seychelles explore ways of meeting its financial obligations.

The SADC was first formed in 1981 as the then Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), with the main aim of coordinating development projects in order to lessen economic dependence on the then apartheid South Africa.

The organisation became the SADC in 1992 and its present membership includes Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its main objective is the alleviation of poverty through sustainable economic development and growth.