Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides) – As the crisis in Zimbabwe becomes more complicated, its neighbor Botswana has decided to place troops on the border so as to face any military attack that could erupt due to political disorder and tensions in Zimbabwe.
According to a newspaper in Botswana, The Sunday Standard, the troops have been deployed along the border area, with heavy artillery.
Botswana’s Defense Minister, Brigadier Dikgakgamatso Seretse, said, “This is a very sensitive matter, therefore, I can neither confirm nor deny any deployment of soldiers along the Zimbabwe-Botswana border.”
Last week, Botswana made harsh declarations against the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, saying that it would have to take unspecified measures if the Africa Development Community (SADC) and the African Union did not condemn Mugabe’s government.
At the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Sharm el Sheik (Egypt), a resolution was unanimously approved, calling for the formation of a government of national unity with the participation of the opposition led by Morgan Tsvangirai (see Fides 2/7/2008). Tsvangirai, however, rejected the hypothesis of a government of national unity that would, in fact, be under Mugabe. Tsvangirai showed his openness to a negotiation that would ensure a time of transition that would lead to new elections, and where the representations would be based on the first electoral turn-out of March 29, in which the party, the Movement for Democratic Change won the majority in Parliament and he won almost 50% of the vote, which would have allowed for his immediate election.
There is an ever-growing rift evident within the African Union and, above all, among the members of the SADC. On the one hand, there are those who support Mugabe, como Mbeki and the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, and on the other, are those who hold a hardliner-attitude with respect to the President of Zimbabwe. Among these are, in addition to the leaders of Botswana, the President of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, that according to a South African radio supposedly died in Paris today, July 3, after suffering a heart attack at the African Union meeting in Egypt. The news has not yet been confirmed by the government in Lusaka. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 3/7/2008)
