Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
Keobonye Majatsie
7 July 2009
Botswana is in the process of trying to beef up its policing capacity ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in neighbouring South Africa, and is asking Australia to lend a hand.
Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith discussed what Australia could do to help Botswana police with capacity-building during a meeting with Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Phandu Skelemani, during his recent visit to Australia.
Skelemani said Botswana wanted to send its officers to Australia to learn but would appreciate if Australian Federal Police (AFP) could come and advise on how to improve the security situation here.
Among the skills Botswana police would like to learn from their Aussie counterparts is how to track criminals by air and how to deal with drug-fuelled soccer fans, who could be a problem during the World Cup when thousands of fans will flock to the SADC region for the soccer showpiece.
"We have a problem with trying to control those who commit robbery and then they run and disappear," Skelemani said.
And Botswana wants advice on the "football fanatics" heading to South Africa, who might cross the border into Botswana and indulge in drug-taking.
"So we want to be prepared to make sure that they don't come and sniff or they call it snook on our side and go back and then you've got the drugs. With particular reference to controlling, you know, this kind of crime who - people who are running around disappearing in the bush or on the roads, but also trying to make sure that our borders are safe," Skelemani said.
Already an Australian Federal Police officer is reported to have travelled to Botswana to do some preliminary work on the proposal.
For his part, Smith said: "We're looking in the first instance at a couple of senior Botswana police officers coming to Australia for some time then going back to add that expertise.
"We're also looking at whether it's possible for us to bring some more (to Australia) and whether it would be of assistance for AFP officers," said Smith. Smith said they had done some preliminary work and there had been contact between officials of the two countries.
"We knew this was an issue so an AFP officer visited Botswana in the course of this year. We're looking in the first instance at a couple of Botswana senior police officers coming to Australia for a period of time, then going back to add that expertise.
But we're also looking at whether it's possible to bring some more and also whether it would be of assistance for a small number of AFP officers to go to Botswana to do that work," he said.
Smith said Australia can do more, adding: "It's obviously a good thing to do to try and help enhance the law enforcement capacity in Botswana."
(Sila Press Agency) Additional reporting by Australian Associated Press (AAP)
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