LM Report 2001

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BOTSWANA

Key developments since May 2000: The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Botswana on 1 September 2000. As of July 2001, Botswana had not yet submitted its first Article 7 transparency report that was due on 28 February 2001.

Mine Ban Policy

Botswana signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 1 March 2000, the first anniversary of global entry into force. The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Botswana on 1 September 2000. Instructions have been given to the Attorney General’s Chambers to prepare domestic implementation legislation.^[1] The Attorney General’s Chambers has also confirmed that they have held meetings with the Zimbabwe office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in order to obtain assistance in incorporating the provisions of the treaty into domestic law.^[2]

As of July 2001, Botswana had not yet submitted its first Article 7 transparency report, which was due on 28 February 2001. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the process of preparing the report; it is anticipated that the report will be ready for submission sometime in 2001.^[3] A Foreign Ministry official told Landmine Monitor that there is a lack of capacity within the government department responsible for preparation of the Article 7 report, and uncertainty about what exactly should be included. ^[4]

Botswana did not attend the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000, nor the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 or May 2001. Due to logistical reasons, Botswana was also unable to attend the Bamako Seminar on the Universalization and Implementation of the Ottawa Convention in Africa, held in Mali on 15-16 February 2001.^[5]

According to Mr. Sanoto, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, the reason for Botswana’s non-attendance at international landmine meetings has simply been because the government did not feel that it had any significant contribution to make, as it is not mine-affected.^[6] However, now that Botswana is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, it intends to be an active participant in discussions on implementing the treaty.^[7] Botswana voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V in November 2000, calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty.

Botswana is not a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use

Botswana has not produced or exported antipersonnel landmines. Botswana Defence Force (BDF) officials state that the military has never laid any landmines in Botswana or in any other country.^[8] The BDF is adamant that it does not maintain any stockpile of antipersonnel landmines, but instead has only a small number of inert landmines for training purposes: seven inert antipersonnel directional mines and three antitank mines. According to Colonel Tjatanga Moloi of the BDF, Botswana retained these mines because in the past BDF soldiers have been deployed to other Southern Africa countries that are mine-infested and there is therefore a need for the soldiers to know about mines.^[9] Generally, the BDF uses substitutes for landmines in their training exercises, such as pieces of wood with tins of shoe polish placed on top. Photos of antipersonnel landmines are displayed so that the BDF soldiers will have a more accurate mental picture of what landmines look like.^[10]

Allegations that Caprivians fleeing into Botswana brought landmines with them have been refuted.^[11] The BDF and Botswana Police have no information that landmines were among the weapons seized from Caprivian refugees when they entered Botswana seeking asylum.^[12]

Botswana is not mine-affected. According to an official of the Botswana Council for the Disabled (BCD), the council has never handled any cases of disability caused by injuries from landmines in Botswana.^[13]

Mine Action

A military trade publication indicates that Botswana has procured the Rapid Antipersonnel Minefield Breaching System Mark 3 (RAMBS 3) produced by the UK company Pains Wessex Ltd.^[14] According to the BDF, the RAMBS 3 was not obtained for conducting demining activities in Botswana since Botswana is not mine infested. The purchase ensures "a holistic familiarization exercise by members of the BDF who were going to participate in UN peace keeping activities in other African countries which are mine infested and where de-mining activities were being conducted."^[15]

The Botswana Red Cross (BRC) society has continued to educate members of the BDF about landmines, in conjunction with the regional office of the ICRC.^[16] The BRC hopes to expand this training to the Botswana Police Force in the near future. The BRC is also involved in landmine awareness education generally. In 1998, BRC produced a fifteen-minute radio program on landmines. Aired on Radio Botswana in the vernacular the program was broadcast for one month. The BRC continues their public education efforts on landmines as part of their general information programs. Among the topics covered are: what are landmines, what do they look like, and what are their effects on people, animals and land. At the end of the program people were allowed to phone in and ask questions and also give their opinions on the issue of landmines. The program was reportedly a success and many people said it was the first time that they had heard anything about landmines.^[17]

^[1] Interview with Ms. Tshenolo Modise, Deputy Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Botswana, 2 March 2001.
^[2] Interview with Daphne Matlaka, Deputy Attorney General, Gaborone, 26 February 2001.
^[3] Interview with Ms. Modise, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 March 2001.
^[4] Interviews with Ms. Modise, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 24 January 2001 and 2 March 2001.
^[5] Ibid.
^[6] Interview with Mr. Sanoto, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Botswana, 6 February 2001.
^[7] Ibid.
^[8] Interview with Colonel Tjatanga Moloi, Botswana Defence Force, Gaborone, 2 March 2001.
^[9] Ibid.
^[10] Interview with Brigadier Rakgole, Gaborone, 1 March 2001.
^[11] Interview with Caprivian refugees at Ditshwanelo, The Botswana Center for Human Rights, Gaborone, 31 January 2001.
^[12] Interview with Mr. Sanoto, Office of the President, 6 February 2001.
^[13] Telephone interview with an official of the Botswana Council for the Disabled, Gaborone, Botswana, 20 February 2001.
^[14] Jane’s Mines and Mine Clearance, online update, 20 June 2000.
^[15] Interview with Colonel Tjatanga Moloi, Botswana Defence Force, Gaborone, 18 May 2001.
^[16] Interview with Acting Secretary-General, Botswana Red Cross, Gaborone, 26 February 2001.
^[17] Interview with Acting Secretary-General, Botswana Red Cross, Gaborone, 26 February 2001.

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