This is a good example for the Ethiopian opposition to establish bases in neighboring countries, such as those that are friendly, namely Eritrea.
Botswana’s foreign minister has suggested on Wednesday that his country would be prepared to allow MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to operate there as leader in exile.
Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani also told BBC World News that regional powers must admit they had failed to resolve the deadlock between Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe and should now bring economic pressure to bear.
Asked whether Botswana would offer Tsvangirai a safe haven if power-sharing talks collapse, Skelemani said: “Anybody who comes to Botswana saying that they fear for their life, from their own country, we will not chase them away.”
Pressed about what Botswana would allow Tsvangirai to do from its soil, the minister said he would not be permitted to launch a military attack on Zimbabwe from there, but could possibly lead a democratic resistance movement.
“That would be the lesser of the two evils, which is probably, taking up arms and getting innocent people killed,” Skelemani said.
Botswana’s President Ian Khama is one of the few African leaders to openly criticise Mugabe, saying his re-election in June was not legitimate.
The foreign minister also said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional bloc must admit that its mediation efforts have failed.
“The international community, SADC first of all, must now own up that they have failed – which we have said, that we as SADC have failed. The rest of us should now own up and say yes, we have failed,” Skelemani told the BBC.
After that, it should “call upon the international community and tell Mugabe to his face, look, now you are on your own, we are switching off, we are closing your borders, and I don’t think he would last”, he said.
“If no petrol went in for a week, he can’t last.”
Negotiators for Mugabe and Tsvangirai met in a new round of talks in South Africa on Tuesday over a stalled power-sharing deal, that calls for Mugabe to remain as president and Tsvangirai to take the new post of prime minister.
Meanwhile, AP reported that Tsvangirai said talks aimed at resolving his country’s political crisis were making no progress.
Tsvangirai also urged the world to help stop what he called “the impending famine and plague” in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai said he once thought that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s party was willing to compromise but that “their intransigence to date is making that appear increasingly unlikely”.
The two sides agreed to form a unity government, but ongoing talks have stalled over how to divide Cabinet posts.
Tsvangirai says Mbeki’s “partisan support” for Mugabe’s party has made it impossible for his party to continue negotiating under his mediation.