Harare — BOTSWANA's new ambassador to Zimbabwe Ms Gladys Kokorwe has pledged to look into Botswana's hosting of a pirate radio station that has been broadcasting hate language into Zimbabwe in contravention of the Sadc-guaranteed Global Political Agreement.

Ms Kokorwe said this after presenting her credentials to President Mugabe alongside three other new ambassadors at State House in Harare yesterday.

The other three ambassadors who presented their credentials were Mr Abdallah Juma Abdallah Al-Sharhan of Kuwait, Libya's Mr Taher Al Maqrahi and Mr Lazhar Soualem of Algeria.

Speaking to journalists afterwards, Ambassador Kokorwe said she intended to improve relations between the two countries.

Botswana hosts Voice of America's Studio 7, which has been illegally beaming hate messages into Zimbabwe in contravention of the GPA and International Telecommunications Union protocols.

The country has also been at the forefront of disparaging the GPA and pushing for fresh elections in Zimbabwe.

"I have read about those allegations. I know about the Voice of America. I will try to dig deep and see what is happening, see how we can resolve it . . . we are neighbours," she said.

A Studio 7 official last week admitted Botswana and the United States have a bilateral agreement allowing the Americans to beam the hate messages into Zimbabwe.

Studio 7 recently completed upgrading a transmitter to scale up the pirate broadcasts.

Ironically, Botswana also hosts the Sadc secretariat but insists on acting in contravention of the GPA that the bloc has said it will act as guarantor.

Ambassador Kokorwe said she had a "very good meeting" with President Mugabe.

She said relations between Zimbabwe and Botswana spanned generations from the years of the liberation struggle and stressed the need to strengthen them.

"We should meet regularly and talk about issues that affect us," Amba-ssador Kokorwe said.

Zimbabwe has already raised the issue of Botswana's pirate broadcasts

with the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation.

The Organ asked Harare to resolve the issue with Gaborone bilaterally through the Zimbabwe-Botswana Permanent Joint Commission.

Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Joey Bimha recently said Zimbabwe would raise the matter with Botswana at the next joint commission meeting.

Born in South Africa on November 28 1947, Ambassador Kokorwe has served the Botswana government in various capacities for the past 23 years.

A Member of Parliament since 1994, Ambassador Kokorwe was also the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly from 1998 to 2008.

Kuwait's new ambassador, Mr Abdallah Al-Sharhan, described Zimbabwe as "a piece of paradise" and promised to resuscitate the Kuwait Fund.

Under the Kuwait Fund loans were extended to Zimbabwe for the construction and upgrading of the Bulawayo-Nkayi, Mandamambwe-Chivi-Tokwe and Buchwa-Rutenga roads.

Ambassador Soualem of Algeria discussed bilateral co-operation with President Mugabe and pledged to implement projects agreed on during the re-launch of the Zimbabwe-Algeria Joint Permanent Commission in August this year.

He said President Mugabe was a "big leader" who was strongly respected by Algerians.

"I had a chance to meet His Excellency, who is a big leader for the people of Algeria and we respect His Excellency," he said.

Apart from maintaining the existing strong economic ties between Harare and Algiers, Ambassador Soualem said he looked forward to developing cultural co-operation during his tenure.

Libya's ambassador, Mr Al Maqrahi, said he was in Zimbabwe to improve existing historical ties while pledging to fight for the lifting of the West's illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.