22 Jul 2018

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) director general support services, Major General Mpho Mophuting says the annual military exercise between Botswana and Namibia enhances bilateral relations between Botswana and Namibia.

Speaking during the third edition of the exercise dubbed ‘Exercise Tshwaragano II’ in Kang over the weekend, he said cordial relations between the two countries would add value to peace making in Africa and beyond.

Major Gen. Mophuting said the exercise in which the BDF and Namibian Defence Force (NDF) were  partaking had a strong bearing on the future of diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries.

He shared that the World had been bedeviled by conflicts and in particular the African continent that was experiencing escalation of conflicts which ultimately displaced people.

He said that the conflicts were complex as the causes were different factors.

He said it was against this backdrop that the two countries saw it fit through the 23rd Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security in 2012 to sit down and discuss strategies to rescue the situation.

Major Gen. Mophuting said that the idea was to create harmonious working relations between the two parties in the form of jointly conducting a unison peace support operations.

He said the success of the first and second editions of the exercises dubbed ‘Exercise Tshwaragano I’ and ‘Exercise Hanganee I’ held in Ghanzi, Botswana in 2014 and Gobabis, Namibia in 2016 respectively were an indication that the two countries were dedicated, prepared and determined to  train together in bilateral peace keeping operations.

He said the exercise gave  the participants a platform to be prepared in the event a need arises for the armies to be called for peace keeping missions under the auspices of African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).

The deputy exercise director Colonel Kondja Kayofa of the NDF said the exercise was meant to gauge the ability of the two armies in a multi-dimensional manner to conduct joint operations for peace support operations within the SADC spectrum.

Colonel Kayofa said the exercise would create a robust rapid deployment capability of the SADC standby force at the initial phase of the mission.

He said the exercise offered an opportunity amongst troops to foster interactions.

However, on other issues Colonel Kayofa said the exercise had an outreach programme that offered disease testing and counseling services to the communities of Kang and surrounding villages. ENDS