28 Apr 2026

Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC have committed to deepening bilateral military ties.

This followed a high-level meeting between Minister for State President, Defence and Security, Mr Moeti Mohwasa and his DRC counterpart, Mr Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita, Monday.

The two nations are set to formalise a defense cooperation framework aimed at enhancing regional stability, intelligence sharing and joint military training.

Minister Mohwasa said Botswana would continue to grow the cooperation that already existed between the two countries, with clear milestones to determine the right direction.

With regard to the military exchanges, Minister Mohwasa said his ministry would task relevant officials to engage with DRC officials to have a document that could guide their interactions going forward.

He said the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), as an army within SADC, would engage and invite the DRC military to their exercises and also establish if they could be allowed to do training in Botswana as it was practice with other countries within SADC.

Furthermore, Mr Mohwasa said Botswana was committed to contribute to the stability of the DRC.

“The stability of the DRC is important for the economic growth of Africa and the stability of DRC is important for the stability of SADC," he said.

He therefore said as SADC member states, their focus should be on complementing each other and ensuring that they built a bulwark that would not allow any attack on anyone. He noted that SADC member states should defend their region and ensure that there was stability within the region as well as the African continent and the rest of the world. He said SADC, Africa and the world needed peace and stability, thus Botswana was willing to strengthen its relations with DRC further.

For his part, Mr Muadiamvita said the DRC held with great importance its relationship with Botswana, which he said was based on regional solidarity, individual experience and shared government responsibility. He said Botswana played an important role in political leadership, institutional coordination and strengthening regional peace and security mechanisms.

Mr Muadiamvita commended Botswana government for the peace effort in DRC.

“Through SADC mechanisms and support for various initiatives aimed at stabilising the western region of the country, Botswana’s contribution whether political, diplomatic, institutional or regional plays a valuable role in the pursuit of lasting peace,” he said.

He further referenced the mediation for the inter-Congolese dialogue between 2000 and 2003, which were led by the late former President Sir Ketumile Masire, saying the dialogue led to the signing of the SADC Political Agreement 2002, which was a practical factor in implementing a new approach to helping the Congolese people reconnect with their political memory.

“It is necessary to build a direct, regular and improved relationship between the DRC and Botswana. I hope that our ministries can establish a political and institutional dialogue based on consultation, trust and the gradual identification of concrete areas of cooperation,” he added.

Again, he said Botswana’s good governance and stability, based on the quality of its institutions and its commitment to democracy, can be of benefit to them.

He also stated that Botswana was a valuable partner for reflection and cooperation in several defence-related fields, hence they were exploring areas such as establishing a framework for direct consultation between the two ministries, identifying priority areas for bilateral military cooperation and cooperating on matters of common interest, particularly those related to intelligence, combating transnational criminal networks, illicit arms trafficking, mineral trafficking and other issues that undermined regional stability.

He also noted that it would be of mutual benefit to encourage development programmes, exchange of officers and expertise and improved coordination within regional peace and security mechanisms. ends