BOTSWANA-ZIMBABWE TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GABORONE 001082

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2018
TAGS: PREL PHUM ZI BC
SUBJECT: BOTSWANA-ZIMBABWE TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Philip R Drouin;
Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: During a series of meetings on December 9,
contacts in Botswana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed
to A/DCM that a ministerial level meeting of the SADC Organ
on Politics, Defence, and Security troika will be held in
Gaborone December 11. The purpose of this meeting is for the
Organ troika representatives to hear Botswana's response to
allegations which had been presented by Zimbabwe at the
body's November 5 meeting in Maputo. Zimbabwe has alleged
that Botswana is actively working to undermine the GOZ,
including by providing "military training" to MDC supporters.
The GOB has loudly and publicly dismissed these claims as
baseless, but is nevertheless scrambling to mount a strong
case for the Organ meeting. Ministry officials are
frustrated not only by the continuing political and
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe but also by regional
criticism of Botswana for speaking its mind on Zimbabwe. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) A/DCM Heather Merritt had a series of meetings with
officials in Botswana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on
December 9. Both Assistant Director for the Americas Shimane
Kelaotswe and Assistant Director in the Africa Division Mr.
Mosole told A/DCM that they had spent the entire previous
weekend working on a special committee preparing for the
December 11 meeting of the SADC Organ troika to be held in
Gaborone, at which the troika will listen to Botswana's
"defense" against the charges which were presented by
Zimbabwe at a November 5 meeting in Maputo. Zimbabwe has
alleged that Botswana is trying to undermine the GOZ,
including by providing military training to members of the
opposition MDC. Mr. Mosole said that the meeting was
supposed to be at the Ministerial level, and confirmed that
Foreign Minister Skelemani would be presenting Botswana's
response. However, he noted that exact participation on the
Zimbabwean side had not yet been confirmed. Mosole said that
the GOB had asked the SADC Secretariat to urge Zimbabwe to
send its Foreign Minister to the meeting, but he feared that
no high-level GOZ representative would attend.


3. (C) According to Mosole, the Zimbabwean "evidence" of
Botswana's wrongdoing which has been presented to SADC
includes items like a videotape of Foreign Minister Skelemani
publicly criticizing the Mugabe regime on the BBC's
"Hardtalk" show and tapes of the Voice of America's "Studio
7" program. (Note: There is a large IBB transmission station
in Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana, which allows Zimbabweans short
wave and medium wave access to VOA programming, including the
Studio 7 show which is broadcast in English/Shona/Ndebele and
covers Zimbabwe news and information.) Mr. Kelaotswe told
A/DCM that the charges being leveled against Botswana were
"nonsense" and he claimed that the Zimbabwean High Commission
staff in Gaborone had even complained to Harare that they had
no evidence to back the GOZ's claims about MDC members
receiving military training inside Botswana. Both Mosole and
Kelaotswe claim that the GOZ's only "evidence" of military
training in Botswana comes from "eyewitness testimony"
offered by prisoners being held in Zimbabwe. Kelaotswe says
that the GOB is not aware of any connection between these
alleged witnesses and the Botswana Defence Forces. Kelaotswe
also noted that some newspapers within SADC countries
(notably the "New Era" in Windhoek with its pro-GON and
pro-SWAPO leanings) have been critical of Botswana and seem
to give credence to the GOZ's allegations. However, he
dismissed the negative regional press coverage, saying that
it was not reflective of regional public opinion and reality,
and came from government propaganda mouthpieces with a
nostalgic slant for the liberation struggle rather than
current human suffering.


4. (C) Mr. Tinar Lekuni, Deputy Director in the MFA's Africa
Division (the second ranking officer in charge of Africa at
the Botswana MFA) vented at length about his and the GOB's
frustration over the continuing political and humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe. He said that the GOB has been encouraged
by the chorus of voices around the world calling for

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political change in Zimbabwe (including African voices like
Raila Odinga, Desmond Tutu, and Kofi Annan) but he worried
about what next steps Botswana and like-minded nations could
take to break the current impasse. He complained that
privately many African governments agree that Mugabe should
go, but they are unwilling to say so publicly or take any
steps to encourage change. Mr. Lekuni confirmed that Morgan
Tsvangirai was staying in Gaborone (from where he called in
to CNN International to give an interview on December 10).
A/DCM noted that there was some criticism in Harare of
Tsvangirai's extended absence from Zimbabwe, but Lekuni
responded that the GOB believes there are real threats to the
MDC leader's safety should he return home, and said
Tsvangirai would be allowed to stay in Botswana as needed.
Mr. Lekuni also noted that he was concerned about the recent
re-emergence of ZAPU as a political force in Zimbabwe. He
feared that President Mugabe had secretly encouraged the ZAPU
veterans to break away from ZANU-PF, as ZAPU still has many
supporters (especially in Matabeleland) and this would
further splinter the opposition vote should a re-run election
be held. Mr. Lekuni and A/DCM also discussed what effect the
Zimbabwe crisis may have on the 2010 World Cup, and whether
any behind the scenes pressure could be brought to bear on
soccer's international governing body FIFA or on the
government of South Africa on the grounds that Zimbabwean
health and security problems could prevent RSA from
successfully staging the world's premier soccer tournament.
When FIFA talks, the SAG (usually) listens.


5. (C) Mr. Lekuni recently returned from an assignment in
Geneva, and he complained that he was constantly urged by the
Africa Group in Geneva to "follow the African consensus" and
take no action on human rights matters. He noted that this
kind of mentality which values solidarity over opposing
wrongs leads Africa to situations like Zimbabwe. A/DCM noted
that Botswana had recently voted with the U.S. on three
significant human rights matters in UN 3rd Committee, and
these votes were a change from previous years for which we
were grateful. Lekuni was aware of and happy about
Botswana's UN votes and attributed the change to the
willingness of the Khama administration to stand on principle
rather than merely follow common regional positions.


6. (C) COMMENT: Foreign Minister Skelemani has invited our
Charge and a small group of like-minded Heads of Mission here
to meet December 12 to discuss Zimbabwe and Burundi (whose
President was invited to Botswana by Khama this week). We
should get a read-out of the SADC proceedings at that time
and will report the outcome via septel. There is no doubt
that Botswana feels beleaguered for its advocacy of political
change in neighboring Zimbabwe. At a time when millions of
Zimbabweans are hungry and thousands infected with cholera, a
somnolent SADC is wasting time investigating fictional
accounts of military training camps inside Botswana. This
distraction in the face of real and urgent problems more than
anything seems to frustrate both the government and people of
Botswana. However, the GOB is confident that since it has
done nothing wrong (and in fact last week offered to send US
$300,000 to relief agencies to help in Zimbabwe) the
allegations will soon pass. However, the GOB remains
frustrated that SADC (and especially South Africa) is still
unwilling or unable to broker political change in Zimbabwe.
Any other tangible support or ideas on Zimbabwe that the USG
might be able to provide now, to bolster Botswana's
beleaguered and principled diplomacy while supplementing our
frequent kudos to the GOB, would also be useful and
appreciated. END COMMENT.
DROUIN