The President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi and Commander in Chief of the Botswana Defence Forces bid farewell to the troops who left for Mozambique yesterday.

The Botswana government has joined other African countries in supporting the government of Mozambique to fight jihadists who have led to the displacement of thousands in the Cabo Delgado Region.

Below is Masisi’s speech.

“Good Morning, I stand here before you, on this day of our lord, 26th July 2021 as the Commander-in-Chief of Botswana Armed Forces & Current Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence & Security, a formal institution of SADC which was launched in June of 1996 with a clear mandate to support the achievement and maintenance of security and the rule of law in the region.

“Today this mandate is being put to test by a geopolitical environment and security landscape not dissimilar to that of the formative years of our country during the years of the minority apartheid regimes, whose aim was to destabilize our country and those of the newly independent Southern African Countries. Complex as the security situation in the SADC region may be, as in the past, Botswana’s foreign policy goals have been and remain very clear. Botswana’s security cannot be attained without that of her neighbors.

When Botswana took the leadership of the SADC Organ Troika on Politics, Defence and Security, I laid out our country’s role in leading our region’s efforts to underpin stability in political, defence and security, by applying our universal diplomatic and security capital to our regions vexing problems.

These security challenges are those found in the Eastern part of the DRC, where through Botswana’s leadership, the SADC region has finalised with the @UN and the 🇨🇩Democratic Republic of the Congo, modalities to ensure that no security gaps will emerge with the envisaged draw down of the United Nations mission in the DRC (MONOSCU).

Furthermore, through the leadership of Rre Lemogang Kwape we have sprung to action in facilitating the people of Eswatini to work towards finding a peaceful and long lasting solution to their political dispensation.

Today we witness yet another milestone in our set out objectives of propelling the peace agenda to our region in following through on the SADC Mandate aimed at facilitating the peaceful conditions in the northern part of the Republic of 🇲🇿Mozambique,” said Masisi.