Botswana should send BDF to South
| Friday January 31, 2014 17:04
Following the sudden turn of events in South Sudan, which seems to have taken the world by surprise, I am of the view that involvement by Botswana in the UN-mandated Peace Support Operation (PSO) is necessary.
I believe that engagement in South Sudan will be in line with nurturing the interests and aspirations of the country. National interests are a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural.
As a new state, South Sudan needs help to establish itself and that is where the opportunities for our country lie. There are endless opportunities in military training, setting up a civil service, health, central bank and for our newly formed state oil company.
With high unemployment levels Botswana could do well to export labour to that country and forge a relationship that would culminate in immense benefit for the two countries. South Sudan is the new market place for all people involved in any form of business.
In 2011 President Ian Khama was in Juba to celebrate the birth of South Sudan and not so long ago Sudanese President Salvi Kiir paid a visit to Botswana for talks on bilateral relations.
BDF has been a regular contributor to UN missions. In 1992 and 1993, a BDF contingent participated in 'Operation Restore Hope' - a United States-led coalition of forces to restore peace in Somalia. There was a team of BDF officers serving as observers in a UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, while in the same year more troops were in Mozambique. The BDF has also participated in 'Operation BOLEAS' a Southern African Development Community (SADC) military intervention in Lesotho in 1998 that culminated in a re-training programme for Lesotho Defence Force members.
The BDF is generously funded and has been able to realise many of its infrastructural and equipment priorities. There is an expectation that Botswana should become a leading player in the continent's peacekeeping operations.
The army has conducted operational exercises with defence forces of neighbouring countries and other friendly forces.
For that reason I think the BDF can take pride in the quality and accomplishments of its personnel and therefore it is about time they took the lead in Peace Support Operations. Conventional conflicts, wars or confrontations between standing armies are rare these days. The Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS) posits that current and future instability is likely to be so-called 'small' wars between ill-defined often non-state opponents.
In light of this, Botswana has no choice but to focus more on Peace Support Operations. Firstly, to put to trial their military strategies, combat skills and secondly to maintain operational readiness necessary to respond to external threats.
If the war in South Sudan is allowed to continue there would be a great loss of lives and the possibility of ethnic cleansing remains high. In that regard it is imperative for the BDF to take action under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).
R2P is an international security and human rights norm that addresses the international community's failure to prevent and stop genocides, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
We also need to appreciate that the threatening civil war in South Sudan presents a very real and urgent security challenge to the DRC and thus to SADC and Botswana.
We cannot really afford to sit by and watch South Sudan disintegrate. It is vital for Botswana to back the ongoing United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) that is in the process of deploying an extra 5, 500 peacekeepers to South Sudan, to bring its forces up to 12, 500.
The BDF's participation will also be consistent with our adherence to the rule of law, democracy and commitment to international peace.