Early November - Rhodesian security forces allegedly crossed into Botswana and abducted 10 African women. The women, originally from Rhodesia, had reportedly taken refuge in Botswana after security forces had raided their village, called Mambzi, and interrogated villagers about the activities of guerillas operating in the Rhodesia-Botswana border area. Their husbands and other men were reported to have been arrested.
19 November - The offices in Francistown of the Nkomo wing of the African National Council were totally destroyed by a bomb blast which injured five passers-by. The child of a senior local civil servant was reported to have died from the blast. The six ANC officials normally resident in the house, alerted by a barking dog, narrowly escaped injury when two out of four suitcase bombs planted outside exploded. Four men, three white and one black, were seen running away from the scene. According to a statement issued soon after the incident by the Office of the Botswana President, it had "now been established beyond doubt that the culprits were members of Ian Smith's security forces". These kinds of activity were "obviously done with the knowledge and consent of the Smith regime." The raiders, the statement continued, had crossed back into Rhodesia near the town of Matsiloje, and were believed to have attacked in retaliation for the Botswana government's refusal the week before to hand over a number of Rhodesian schoolchildren who had sought refuge in Botswana. In the face of claims by the Smith regime that the blast reflected "faction-fighting" between different nationalist groups, the Rand Daily Mail, which had previously admitted having prior knowledge of Rhodesian "hot pursuit" operations, declared that the attack was "almost certainly the work of a Rhodesian government squad", probably the Selous Scouts. The paper went on to claim that "the plan to attack the Nkomo office was taken (sic) seven weeks ago, immediately after the talks between Dr. Henry Kissinger and Mr. Ian Smith. At the same time it was decided to make a series of spectacular strikes deep into Mozambique.
20 November - The body of a Batswana villager, Mr. Phatsimo Topole, 35, killed by Rhodesian security forces near the border village of Matsiloje, was brought into Francistown's Jubilee Hospital. According to the Smith regime, Mr. Topole, who had allegedly been armed with a shotgun, had been shot on 17 November when he was caught breaking the curfew regulations inside Rhodesia.
25 November - According to a statement issued by the Office of the Botswana President, two black and two white Rhodesian soldiers crossed into Botswana and kidnapped a 16-year-old boy about 1 km from the border in the north-east district near Moroka village. The boy, Disang Modiakgotla, was reportedly looking for a stray goat when the soldiers captured him.
11-12 December - A group of nine black and one white Rhodesian soldiers allegedly attacked Matshelagabedi, a village near Francistown. Three Botswana citizens, Mr. Abel Maphane, his son Jotha, and a male servant, Mr. Bango, were abducted. The soldiers were also reported to have burnt down Mr. Maphane's home and a number of other houses in the village, stolen his money and set fire to his car.
14 December - Rhodesian soldiers in camouflage uniform, transported in a "military van", allegedly made a lightning raid on the border village of Moroka in the north-east. Houses were set alight and at least two destroyed, but no-one was hurt.
18 December - Members of the Botswana Mobile Police Unit exchanged fire in a 20-minute gun battle with Rhodesian troops. According to the Permanent Secretary in the Botswana President's Office a Rhodesian military attack had been mounted on a police barracks on the outskirts of Francistown, 25 km from the Rhodesian border. A Batswana policeman was taken to hospital with a bullet wound in the leg. A transit camp for refugees from the Muzorewa wing of the ANC is situated close to the police compound but official opinion in Botswana was that this was unlikely to have been the intended target.
The gun battle of Francistown in the early morning of 18 December came hours after a decision by the Botswana Government to take the border problem to the United Nations. Mr. Archie Mogwe, Botswana's Foreign Minister, flew to New York shortly afterwards to present evidence of border violations to an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and to request international assistance. The Smith regime, who have repeatedly accused Botswana of assisting Zimbabwean guerillas, are reported to have extended an official invitation to the Botswana Government to discuss the border situation - an offer since declined. In a communique issued on 22 December the Botswana Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Botswana "deemed such a discussion unnecessary since all that was needed to resolve the problem was for Rhodesia to stop her incursions into Botswana."
According to the Botswana authorities, Rhodesian security forces have been responsible for at least 31 border violations involving incidents of arson, murder, kidnapping and destruction of property since Botswana became independent in 1966. 12 such violations took place during 1976. Botswana has no army, and its police force, numbering around 1,000 men in toto, is solely responsible for patrolling the remote 700 km border with Rhodesia in addition to other security functions. In an address at the opening of Parliament at the end of November, the Botswana President, Sir Seretse Khama, announced plans to increase the numerical strength and weaponry of the Mobile Police Unit. Other measures taken by the Botswana government in recent weeks in an effort to resist border incursions include an announcement on 22 December that the entire border region including Francistown and the north-eastern district would henceforth be treated as a "protected area". Road blocks may be set up anywhere within 30 km of the border and the police have been authorized to search anyone in this region.
STOP PRESS On 11 January, the Smith regime claimed in a security forces communique that Rhodesian troops had exchanged gunfire with armed men across the border with Botswana. According to the communique, Rhodesian forces had observed a build-up within Botswana of armed men at a kraal opposite their position. Later, it was alleged, small arms and automatic fire was directed from Botswana at two Rhodesian officers and the Rhodesian forces retaliated.
