In Brief; South Africa-Botswana Border Talks
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Page 1 184 of 440 DOCUMENTS BBC Summary of World Broadcasts December 22, 1984, Saturday West Africa: In Brief; South Africa-Botswana Border Talks SOURCE: Text of report Gaborone home service in English 1110 gmt 20 Dec 84 SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; B. AFRICA ; ME/7833/B/1; LENGTH: 322 words (ME/7832/ii) Botswana and South Africa held talks yesterday in Pretoria and decided to send a joint team to survey an area along the Chobe river which was the scene of a shooting incident in October this year when a South African Defence Force patrol strayed into Botswanan territory. The Botswana Defence Force [BDF] fired on a boat carrying South African forces along a small trench of the Chobe river around the Kasane area. The area, known as Kasikili [phonetic] or Sidudu island, is on the Botswana side of the border between this country and the Caprivi Strip [in] Namibia, a territory administered by South Africa.The Secretary for External Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Garebamono, said in an interview this morning that the South Africans were using maps which were different from those used by authorities in Botswana and there had been a difference of judgement.According to a treaty signed between Britain and Germany in 1890, specifying the border line between the territories of the two countries, the main channel of the Chobe river, often referred to as the (?Linyadi), forms the border between Botswana and the Caprivi Strip, Namibia. Botswana and South Africa recognise the stipulations of the treaty.According to Mr Garebamono, the South African patrol had followed the small channel of the Chobe which forms the Sidudu island and the BDP fired on the intruders because they were in Botswana territory, but the South Africans thought they were right because of the difference in the maps being used. According to South African maps, the small channel of the Chobe river forms the border, but this would be contrary to the 1890 treaty.The survey team sent by the two neighbours will report back to their governments for further discussions. At the Pretoria talks were Mr Garebamono; the Attorney General, Mr Moleleki Mokama; a BDF representative; and an official from the Department of Surveys and Lands. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH Copyright 1984 The British Broadcasting Corporation.