WEDNESDAY 3.30PM:
A BORDER row has flared between Botswana troops and Namibian villagers living on a group of disputed islands in the south east Caprivi. Botswanan soldiers erected military camps on one island last month, and have been accused of harassing the villagers and seizing their crops. Now the soldiers are threatening to build more camps every 10 kilometres along the disputed border.
The Botswana soldiers were transported by helicopter to the island of Singobeka (also called Situngu) in December, where they are accused of having seized maize, melons and pumpkins planted by the villagers. They are also accused of demanding that the Namibian villagers show their passports to prove their rights to areas they have lived in all their lives.
But the strangest aspect of the dispute has been the apparent indifference of the Namibian authorities, despite a World Court case between the two countries over the fate of another nearby island. No senior official from either government has been prepared to comment, reports the Windhoek newspaper The Namibian.
An agreement was reached between the two countries last week to allow the villagers to continue farming until the dispute has been resolved. But when the villagers held a meeting at the weekend, to be addressed by Namibia’s High Commissioner to Botswana Joshua Hoabeb, he failed to arrive. Now the villagers are trying to lobby defence and foreign affairs officials in Windhoek for help.