- Deputy PM says peaceful relations with Botswana are a priority
- Namibian president previously called BDF “trigger happy”
TEFO PHEAGE
The Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has called on her compatriots to end their animosity towards Botswana and to stop making acrimonious references to their neighbour to the east.
Nandi-Ndaitwa, who is also her country’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, appealed to Namibians to turn over a new leaf because peaceful relations with Botswana are a priority for their government.
Bilateral cooperation
She made these remarks at her country’s Zambezi Region recently where she held a closed-door meeting of the security establishment attended by 24 representatives of different ministries.
The meeting focused on relations between the two countries that came under considerable stress after the killing of three Namibian brothers and their Zambian cousin by an anti-poaching patrol unit of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in November 2020 in the Chobe River where it forms a riparian boundary between Botswana and Namibia.
Namibian president Hage Geingob subsequently described the BDF as “trigger happy”.
Nchindo brothers Tommy (48), Martin (40) and Wamunyima (36) and their Zambian cousin Sinvula Munyeme (42) were killed on suspicion that they were poachers but Namibia insisted that the four were fishermen.
“Namibia regards peaceful relations with its neighbours as a matter of priority,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said in a video recording captured at the meeting.
She emphasised the need for cordial relations between the two countries and urged strengthening bilateral cooperation between their traditional authorities and regional councils.