Threats to national security have radically shifted from militaristic to non-militaristic, which in most cases are very difficult to predict. During the Cold War era, the state was the referent point when it came to analysing national security threats.
However, in the post-Cold War era, it is the core survival of human beings that is the central focus of national and international security. Transnational crime is one of those non-traditional security threats that affect all the seven dimensions of human security. Within the realm of transnational crime, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons has become a central focus of debate in Botswana as the violent use of these weapons have escalated to new highs over the past two years. It is therefore important to make introspection on the role played by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the national security landscape of Botswana.
The modern era is characterised by multiple drivers of globalisation such as information, communication technology that has seen the rise in organised crime such as trafficking of small arms which has been used in all sorts of criminal activities such as bank robberies, domestic and drug related violence. The smuggling of arms and light weapons into Botswana by organised criminal syndicates is a national security threat because the rapid movement of these small arms into the country is difficult to trace and has long lasting impact on human security. Botswana Police Service crime statistics show that there has been a rapid rise in armed robberies and fatal shootings across Botswana that has resulted in casualties through the use of illegal arms smuggled from across the borders.
More than 900 armed robberies have been recorded since 2015 where dangerous arms and weapons have been used. These armed robberies usually target financial institutions such as banks, large and small retailers, cash-in transit vehicles, homesteads and even individuals. In some cases, some Improvised Explosive Devices are used to blast Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) resulting in loss of large amounts of money, destruction of property and causing severe trauma to local populations.
There has been an escalation in the use of small arms and light weapons by organised criminal gangs despite the heavy handed approach by state security agents (shoot to kill approach) in addition to providing armed guard to cash-in-transit vehicles owned by private security companies. Furthermore there are numerous cases where firearms are used in domestic and street violence resulting in serious fatalities thus impacting adversely on overall public safety. This has now rendered the issue of small arms trafficking to be viewed as a national security concern to Botswana as a whole. This national security concern has raised serious debate about the strengths and weaknesses of Botswana when it comes to combating the proliferation and use of small arms and weapons by organised criminal syndicates. Botswana has many weaknesses when it comes to resource capacity and this makes the country to be vulnerable to transnational criminal organisations as they continue to proliferate small arms and light weapons in the country, which poses a serious national security threat. Firstly, Botswana has long borders, which are not adequately monitored by security agents thus creating a lot of ungoverned spaces. These ungoverned spaces are in most cases manipulated by organised criminals with sheer effectiveness to smuggle small arms and light weapons, which are then used to commit various criminal activities. For example, the long stretches of borders in the North West of the country with a difficult-to-penetrate terrain have made it easier for poachers to smuggle arms into Botswana and cause severe criminal harm to the tourism sector, which is an important sector in the economy of this country. Secondly, there is inadequate investment in technology by our various state agencies such as the Directorate of Intelligence Services (DIS), BPS, Department of Immigration, the Department Of Wildlife and others in combating organised crime that can go a long way in combating proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
The lack of technology such as metal detectors, drones, etc. makes it easier for small arms traffickers to conceal an assortment of weapons that are used to terrorise local business institutions and local populations. The little technology that Botswana’s state security agencies use is grossly inadequate to match the advanced strategies used by organised criminal syndicates. Thirdly there is a corrupt symbiotic relationship between some members of state security agencies and organised criminal organisations, which makes it easier for criminal elements to pay bribes to security agents to smuggle weapons into Botswana. Fourthly, the blatant absence of a robust national security strategy, which could otherwise guide our security agencies and other stakeholders on how to approach the complex security challenges facing Botswana, is another weakness that has been ruthlessly manipulated by organised criminals to proliferate all sorts of small arms and light weapons into Botswana.
It must be borne in mind that organised criminals who smuggle small arms and light weapons into Botswana are very well advanced in their strategies and in most cases they evade any form of detection by our security agencies. This then calls for robust strategies especially when it comes to inter-agency collaboration between various state security agencies in terms of identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities so as to be able to be successful in pooling of resources and expertise together, joint operations, etc. Inter-agency collaboration helps in militating against the trend of working in fragmentation, which makes it difficult for them to effectively combat small arms trafficking. For the interest of this country as well as effective provision of national security, there is a need to come up with a national security strategy that can guide our government on how to combat multiple threats to national security such as small arms proliferation.
