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Important questions have been raised about the killing of four suspected Namibian poachers by soldiers from the Botswana Defense Forces (BDF), including claims that the victims were unarmed fishermen and that one may have been executed after his arrest.
The incident has increased tensions between Namibia and Botswana, sparking protests last Friday in Windhoek and the town of Katima Mulilo in the Zambezi region (formerly known as the Caprivi Strip), in which Botswana flags were burned and registered vehicles were damaged. in Botswana.
The governments of the two countries tried to pour oil into troubled waters last week. Both issued statements affirming the “excellent bilateral relations” between Namibia and Botswana.
Namibian President Hage Geingob said he had spoken by phone with Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi and that they had “agreed to a joint investigation to shed light.”
Botswana has been accused of applying an unwritten “shoot to kill” policy against poachers. At least 12 people suspected of poaching have been killed this year by the BDF’s anti-poaching unit, most of them Namibians, according to records from the INK Center for Investigative Journalism.
In the latter case, local Namibians who spoke to INK raised questions about the unit’s conduct against poaching. They claimed to know the victims and to have witnessed some of the events.
The incident in question took place on the night of November 4 on the Chobe River on Sedudu Island, near the resort town of Kasane in northern Botswana.
BDF spokesman Colonel Tebo Dikole said that around 11pm the BDF “came into contact with a poachers’ union believed to be part of a network responsible for organized cross-border poaching.”
Further pressured, Colonel Dikole said he was “obligated” to comment as investigations were ongoing.
However, INK conducted a telephone interview with a BDF officer in the anti-poaching unit, who was not present during the shooting but arrived shortly afterwards and helped guard the bodies overnight.
The officer, from the BDF camp in Kasane, asked to remain anonymous.
He said the unit received a report of an imminent poaching incident on Sedudu Island around 5 p.m. (Nov. 4) and that a motorboat with about 10 BDF soldiers with assault rifles and fire equipment Night vision was dispatched from Sedudu’s camp to ambush the suspect.
At around 10 p.m., the BDF source said that soldiers observed four figures paddling two canoes along the edge of the island, carrying objects that he claimed were elephant tusks.
He said the four were surprised to see the reflectors of the life jackets that the soldiers were wearing in the water and “assumed an attack mode.”
“They actually opened fire,” he said. “And you know what soldiers do when an enemy opens fire.”
Tommy Nchindo, Simvula Munyeme and Ernest Wamunyima Nchindo were shot in the chest and killed instantly in their canoes, according to the source. Martín Nchindo was shot when he tried to swim to safety.
The source claimed that the canoeists’ rifle sank to the bottom of the river, which is infested with hippos and crocodiles.
They had not killed any elephants, the source said, but their mission was to “harvest” the elephant tusks stored on the island. He added: “There were no fishing nets, only hunting spears.”
However, this version was questioned by two Namibians who live in the affected area and who claim to have been close to the events.
Matengu Mavuna said in a telephone interview from the nearby village of Kasika in the Zambezi region that he had loaded the canoes earlier than what he said was a fishing expedition and that they contained no weapons.
“I loaded two nets onto the ship, both 2.5m wide, one 800m long and the other 600m long,” Mavuna said. “I saw a knife and two spears in the boats. I didn’t see a weapon. “
He said his uncles left the fishing camp at 6.30pm but never returned.
George Nchindo, brother of the three deceased Nchindos, told INK that it is common practice to fish at night in the Chobe and Linyanti area.
“When the hippos are grazing out of the water, it is safe to fish,” he said.
He said it was possible that his brothers crossed the border without realizing it, since the Chobe River at that point is a small channel and it is not easy to know where you are at night.
He challenged the BDF divers to find the rifle supposedly used by his brothers.
“We want to see the serial number. BDF’s behavior is disgusting. ”
George expressed his hope in a WhatsApp video that the “shoot to kill” policy will one day be reversed.
Let us not spread our anger to all of Batswana. I know there are people in Botswana who are against politics, ”he said.
The Nchindo’s cousin Cassius Mwala, who has a fishing camp near Sedudu Island, said by phone from Katima Mulilo that he last spoke to Tommy Nchindo around 7 p.m.
At around 8pm, he said he heard a “commotion” from people talking in Setswana and Subiya. He called Tommy and Martin, but they didn’t answer.
Around 10:30 p.m. M. heard random shots from an automatic rifle and ran to the scene immediately after the shooting stopped.
“I saw two small torch lights moving towards each other in the water in the distance,” Mwala said. Accompanied by a colleague, he waited and watched.
Around 1 am, he said they heard “three shots at intervals.” Terrified, they waited on the mosquito-infested riverbank and an hour later, a boat roared from the scene towards the BDF camp.
At first light, he said he reported the incident to the Impalila police, who took hours to respond.
Mwale said what really surprised him was his visit to the Kasane Primary Hospital to identify the bodies of the dead.
He said Ernest Nchindo had visible bruises on his head. At that point he realized that Ernest may have been beaten after being arrested and then “finished off” by the soldiers.
“I saw the bodies. Ernest had bruises. Was this the deliberate killing of innocent people? ” I ask.
Suspicion is also raised by the claim of an Impalila police officer, who did not want to be identified, who was denied access to the bodies at the Francistown autopsy.
The statement by BDF spokesperson Tikole did not mention that the suspects carried firearms or elephant tusks, or that they fired at the anti-poaching unit.
The BDF was also asked if a firearm carried by the alleged poachers had fallen into the water and if Ernest Nchindo was captured alive and beaten. BDF declined to clarify this statement.
In the past, the BDF has denied any involvement in human rights violations in the border area, saying that its operations are carried out “under current laws.”
The INK Center previously reported that over the past two decades, 30 Namibians and at least 22 Zimbabweans have been killed in anti-poaching operations in Botswana. But Namibian authorities and human rights groups say the figure could be much higher.
They have urged Botswana to exercise restraint when it comes to suspected poachers.
After the November 4 incident, the Governor of Namibia’s Zambezi region, Lawrence Sampofu, said: “When you meet these people [poachers], it is better to arrest them … We really call on our people not to go poaching in Botswana. ”
The Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area has 200,000 wild elephants, more than anywhere else in the world.
Tourism contributes 4.9% of Botswana’s GDP, or about P15 billion, but the tourism sector is projected to decline by 27% this year as a result of the pandemic.
Former Botswana Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Tshekedi Khama, brother of former President Ian Khama, lifted the lid on the government’s approach to poaching in a 2013 interview with British filmmaker Tom Hardy, who was making the documentary film. Stealth wars.
“It is a culture; we have to kill the supply to starve the culture, ”said Khama. “That’s one of the reasons why in Botswana, with our anti-poaching unit, we don’t necessarily question the poacher,” he told the apparently surprised filmmaker.
“That is a position we take to send a clear message: if you want to come poaching in Botswana, one of the possibilities is that you will not return to your country alive.”
When Hardy asked if the policy applied to locals, Khama said yes. He went on to say that even if a suspected poacher drops his gun and raises his hands, the BDF will fire.
This story was produced by the INK Center for Investigative Journalism
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