Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana will continue to foster and deepen its relations with Namibia and find new frontiers where the two southern Africa neighbouring states can cooperate and strengthen synergies.
Minister for International Relations, Dr Phenyo Butale said in an interview in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the sidelines of the 38th African Union Summit on Wednesday that it was to this end that President Advocate Duma Boko had, upon hearing of the passing on of first Namibia president Sam Nujoma, sent a message of condolences to Namibia and reassured them of Botswana’s solidary.
“President Duma Boko has sent a message, to commiserate with the people of Namibia for their loss, to the government of Namibia with which we have deep and cordial relations dating back many years,” he said, adding that Botswana was keen to further deepen its ties with Namibia through already established platforms in pursuit of the development of the people of the two nation-states.
Also, Dr Butale was happy with the way the election of different commissioners was carried out during the executive council meeting held on Tuesday at the AU headquarters even though Batswana who vied for some positions did not make it to the final stage as they got eliminated at the infancy stages.
Dr Butale said, however, that all was not lost as both candidates from eSwatini and South Africa managed to pull through and were elected Commissioners of Agriculture and Infrastructure respectively.
The two, a male and female, will represent Southern Africa at the African Union Commission. eSwatini was also elected to the Peace and Security Council of the AU and will join Botswana, which was elected previously.
On other issues, Dr Butale relayed that the Botswana Foreign Policy would be guided by the principle of human rights-centred approach of the UDC-led government.
“Re tlaa be re ikaegile thata ka ditshwanelo tsa setho, go tshegetsa le go tlotla ditshwanelo tsa setho,” he said, meaning ‘we will be focusing much on human rights, upholding and recognising human rights’ naming virtues such as Botho and dialogue that Botswana is known for.
Broad strokes of such a policy, he stated, would be written in black and white in the not-so-distant future.
On the role of Botswana in the settling of cross-fires ravaging the continent and the SADC region, especially the simmering war in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr Butale said the fact that President Boko had already attended extraordinary sessions meant to promote peace and cessation of fighting spoke volumes.
As a peace-loving nation and ardent believer in tranquility, he said Botswana was more than ready to make a meaningful contribution to ensure the silencing of guns in the SADC region and Africa as a whole.
On fostering cooperation, Dr Butale said Botswana was on a crusade to deepen the already existing ties with like-minded countries and partners and establish new ones to maximise benefits for Batswana.
“We are in a hurry to create jobs, we are in a hurry to industrialise,” he said.
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