The dilemma of sending troops to Mozambique

Botswana, like other countries is faced with a daunting task of fending off and protecting its citizens from the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is another war in the region that could be of distraction to the fight against the pandemic.

These wars are all resource straining and the country is faced with a dilemma of whether to send troops to help in Mozambique. Like the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Mozambique is devastating as innocent citizens are killed in masses.

Resources are already exhausted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, failure to act on the developments in Mozambique will have dire consequences for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, of which Botswana is a member. Much as there are valid reasons against, there are equally strong reasons for.

Mozambique says it is trying to help civilians forced to flee the attacks by an Islamist armed group linked to the Islamic State (ISIS), in the gas-rich town of Palma, but the government urgently needs help from its SADC neighbours.

Dozens of civilians have already been killed by the terrorists, many wounded while others have been caused to flee.

These attacks may spread across the region in no time, and destabilise economies of other countries like ours. The war is in music, but it may soon be in shores. But it may be wise to fight it before it gets here. This is a situation we cannot avoid as a country. We have benefit of history in similar situations, and we cannot turn a blind eye.

It happened back then during the apartheid era in South Africa. It happened when Zimbabwe started to encounter an economic meltdown, and its people flee to neighbouring countries in search of greener pastures. All this, somehow put Botswana’s economy under pressure as the country had to accommodate these refugees.

Urgent measures are needed to protect the citizens and civilians of Mozambique. Botswana must act immediately and provide humanitarian aid as well as security for these people. As a country, we should also not forget that it might be us in future facing a similar situation. We will obviously expect our regional brothers to come to our aid without hesitation.

We can’t be standbys in this war just because we say we have a war in our hands. It is a tough decision to make but it must be done. It’s inevitable Botswana must send troops to Mozambique. After all, Setswana sa re matlo go sha mabapi.