Two shooting incidents on the border of Botswana and Namibia in October and November of last year, involving members of the South African Defence Force (SADF) and the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), have been followed by talks between the governments of South Africa and Botswana about the location of the border in the Caprivi Strip area. At least one South African radio broadcast has referred to 'possible border adjustments'. Still more serious was the threat that Bophuthatswana bantustan forces might be used in 'hot pursuit' of alleged ANC combatants fleeing from South Africa to Botswana.
The first and more serious of the two incidents occurred in the highly strategic Caprivi Strip, which protrudes from the north east corner of Namibia into the heartland of Southern Africa and stands at the convergence of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe with Botswana and Namibia. On 25 October a patrol of four BDF soldiers, armed with rifles, came across an SADF patrol boat in a sidestream of the Chobe River, near the Chobe National Park and to the west of Kasane. In terms of the 1890 British-German treaty this rivulet lies on the Botswana side of the border.
The BDF patrol opened fire on the boat which turned out to be carrying South African Navy marines. It accelerated away, the BDF's fire not being returned. Later three 'slightly wounded' marines were treated at Mpacha. Little damage was done to the boat, although an SADF spokesman claimed that the BDF had fired on it with a heavy calibre machine gun. He claimed that the boat was engaged in a routine patrol inside Namibia. The need for an on-the-spot investigation of the incident was agreed immediately by both the South African and Botswana Governments.
A second incident took place in an unidentified border area on 2 November. The BDF commander, Major General Nompati Merafhe, said that South African troops had fired on one of his patrol vehicles. There were no casualties.
The SADF denied all knowledge of the incident.
Discussions concerning the first incident were held in Pretoria on 19 December, when the two governments agreed to send a survey team to the location of the incident. The next day Botswana's Secretary for External Affairs, Geoffrey Garebamono, in an interview confirmed his Government's view that by the 1890 treaty the border was marked by the main channel of the River Chobe, the sidestream in question clearly lying in Botswana's territory. He added that the boat had 'strayed' across the border because its commander was using a map which did not observe the terms of the 1890 treaty. This substantiates the claim that the South African authorities do not recognise the 1890 border and that they now wish to redefine it to their advantage.
Reports in the South African press alleging that the Soviet Embassy in Botswana was 'a KGB command post for Southern Africa' and criticism by the British Minister, Malcolm Rifkind, after a visit to Botswana, of 'recent threats ... to attack Botswana', have raised fears that an invasion by South Africa cannot be ruled out.
