Botswana, Namibia truce faces test

It has been months since Botswana and Namibia drafted a Code of Conduct for the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River Transboundary Tourism and Sustainable use of Natural Resources in order to reduce conflict between citizens of the two countries over tourism activities along the Chobe River. Namibians have been the loudest critics of Botswana as they continue to take aim at the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) accusing the army of harassing their compatriots and tourists along the Chobe River. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="3" ] The Namibian Government has been under pressure from its citizens with some of them warning that they would take the law into their hands to defend themselves against what they call BDF’s harassment. Although this resulted in the two countries drafting a code of conduct late last year, tension remain high between Namibian citizens and BDF. Recently, Namibian authorities invited their citizens for a meeting to discuss the draft code of conduct for the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River transboundary and sustainable use of natural resources. The meeting was scheduled for 14 th February this year. According to a letter written by the Zambezi Regional Council Chief Regional Officer, Regina Ndopu-Lubinda; “The purpose of the meeting is to present and solicit inputs on the draft Code of Conduct for the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River Transboundary Tourism and Sustainable use of Natural Resources.” She added that; “The overall aim of the Code of Conduct is to provide a harmonizer and standard set of procedures and guidelines for the use of the Chobe River shared watercourse.” The copy of the draft Code of Conduct seen by this publication states that law enforcement agencies should keep a low profile around Chobe River area. “Notwithstanding the crucial role and the mandate of the security forces, where possible, security forces are not to interact with communities, visitors or tourism operators unless there is a serious incident affecting national security of the specific country or both,” the copy of the draft says. It says while carrying out their duties, should security forces have to confront tourists and operators, then, where possible, a police officer should be present and in charge of the incident. “By all means and with respect to the rules of each country, rules of engagement on the management and use of shared natural resources of the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River should involve arrest of any offenders who violet the laws of the respective country,” the draft says. According of the draft, as the impact of tourism and other natural resource utilisation activities in the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River area continues to grow. As a result, there is an increased need for a Code of Conduct (CoC) to guide sustainable tourism and natural resource utilization of the shared waters of the Chobe River. “This document identifies and addresses areas where a code can reduce conflict, overcrowding and misunderstandings and where citizens and visitor satisfaction can be increased,” the document further states. It says the 22 nd Session of the Namibia/Botswana Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security resolved that a Task Team be constituted between the two States to resolve issues of sustainable use of natural resources more specifically, on the use of house boats and wildlife management in and along the Chobe River. Objectives of this code of conduct are to provide guidance to address conflicting river-uses and activities as well as to ensure that they do not compromise the tourism appeal and experience or community beneficiation of the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River. The code of conduct is also aimed at addressing security concerns about movement of citizens of the countries and tourists in and around the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River. The document says both countries should strive to increase the tourism value of the biodiversity for the river and associated floodplains. It says all tourism activities should respect laws and regulations of the two countries. Moreover, the document states that all users should demonstrate respect for the “shared waters” of the main channel and the national borders. It notes that the Chobe-Linyanti-Kwando River is an international border. Technically the border follows the deepest channel, and although the deepest channel is not discernible to users, this does not absolve users from the responsibility to be aware of and demonstrate respect for the border. “Botswana boats should only just ground on the Namibian bank of the river, and Namibians boats on the Botswana bank. At night, and when boats are at anchor or beached, they should always be on their own side of the river,” says the document. It says no use of tourism boats at night (sunrise to sunset) in the main channel for tourism purposes [/ihc-hide-content]

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Botswana, Namibia truce faces test

Despite the prolonged war of words over the sharing of tourism activities along the Chobe River, Botswana and Nambia are on the verge of striking a cooperation agreement

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Botswana, Namibia truce faces test

Despite the prolonged war of words over the sharing of tourism activities along the Chobe River, Botswana and Nambia are on the verge of striking a cooperation agreement

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