The announcement comes as President Mokgweetsi Masisi announces a national lockdown and declares a state of emergency.

There are three confirmed cases of COVID 19 in Botswana and the patients have been quarantined.

A further 14 people are in isolation awaiting the result of tests.

President Mogsweetsi Masisi has not said how long the emergency regulations will remain in force.

He says, taking account of conditions in neighboring countries, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, a 21-day lockdown might not be enough to curb the spread of COVID19.

He’s concerned about the low rate of testing and the cumbersome health protocols.

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Would-be hunters have paid  deposits 0f R275 000 to bid for seven licenses allowing the hunting of ten elephants apiece.

Conservationists say elephants have become a political football for President Mokgweetsi Masisi who is determined to kick over the traces of his wildlife-loving predecessor Ian Khama.

They say there  has not been an increase in Botswana’s elephant population of 170 000 and hunting will increase the demand for ivory and the risk of poaching the animals heading for extinction

The government insists that if there are too many  elephants, it  poses a threat to humans and their crops

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It’s in northern Botswana, south of the Zambezi River.

The  journal Nature publishes the study using mitochondrial DNA – that which is passed down the female line and is not sidetracked by male DNA..

They analyse samples from 1200 people from myriad populations across Africa

The area where modern man began about 200 000 years ago is now salt pans.

It was once an enormous lake supporting a lush wetland.

The finding supports the theory that our modern ancestors migrated out of Africa rather than evolving in separate pockets around the world simultaneously.

The anthropologists’ study is controversial.

Some scientists say mankind cannot be traced back using DNA alone. 

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Khama says he hand picked Mokgweetsi Masisi who served loyally and efficiently as deputy president.

But since taking up the reins 18 months Masisi’s he’s been disappointing.

Ian Khama has left the ruling Botswana Democratic Party and urged his supporters not to vote for it at elections in October. 

His bitter and very public dispute with President Mokgweetsi Masisi has tainted Botswana’s image as one of the most democratic African countries.

Masisi has systematically overturned Khama’s hard-won gains.

The latest of these has been lifting the five year ban on elephant hunting.

This bid to attract the rural vote in October has incensed conservation groups and is expected to cost Botswana precious tourism revenue. 

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It’s an embarrassment for her husband, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe and brother-in-law President Cyril Ramaphosa.

ends intro

Botswana’s decision to slap travel restrictions on Bridgette Radebe comes despite the personal intervention of President Cyril Ramaphosa who sent his Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu to Gaborone to smooth things over with President Mokwetsi Masisi.

Radebe is understood to have bankrolled former foreign minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi’s battle with Masisi for leadership of the Botswana Democratic Party.

The travel restriction is understood to have been imposed against Radebe even before Sisulu’s meeting with Masisi.

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Neighbouring Namibia’s President Heine Geingob, in his capacity as SADC chairman, has tried to intervene in the feud between Khama and in incumbent Mokgweetsi Masisi.

As Botswana’s carefully nurtured image of political stability unravels, President Mokgweetsi Masisi has become the ruling party’s first leader to be challenged at its elective conference, which is due in May.

His response is to act against supporters of his predecessor Ian Khama, who accuses him of  taking the diamond-rich country backwards.

BPC secretary general Mpho Balopi confirms that 32 members of the party who attended a speech by Ian Khama, that was sanctioned by the party, have been summoned to explain themselves and face disciplinary action. 

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The latest manifestation is an official apology to Washington from Gaborone for Khama calling US President Donald Trump arrogant and racist.

Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi admits the transition from the rule of notoriously plain-spoken Ian Khama has not gone smoothly.

Now his foreign affairs department’s repudiated Khama for saying Donald Trump is unbelievably immature and the worst president the US has ever had.

Khama counters that the Botswana government is entitled to abandon its principles, but he will continue to speak out against the violation of democratic principles and human rights violations.

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This comes days after reports, denied by Gaborone authorities,  that 90 elephants have been poached for their tusks in the  largest African sanctuary for the endangered giants.

Prime Minister Mokgweetsi Masisi has the launched the debate on the desirability of maintaining the ban on elephant hunting introduced by his conservationist predecessor Ian Khama.

With a national herd of 135 000 elephants – that’s more than  third of these fast depleting  animals on the African continent – its argued that their impact on the environment is unmanageably hard, putting them on a collision course with humans.

Masisi will meet with researchers on the coming weeks and will then address a kgotla on the issue

The post Botswana reconsiders ban on elephant hunting appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Their tusks had been hacked off .

The shocking find was made by the organization Elephants Without Borders conducting an aerial census  of the animals.

The poachers had tried to hide the rotting carcasses by pulling branches over them.

The killings took place just weeks ago and coincided with the disarming of Botswana’s wildlife rangers.

Five white rhinos have been poached in that country in the past three months.

Botswana’s home to 37 percent of Africa’s elephant population, making it the largest sanctuary for these endangered animals.

In the seven years between 2007 and 2014, poachers killed 144 000 elephants.

That’s a third of the elephants left on the continent.

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The Gaberone Government’s asking the regional grouping SADC and the African Union to condemn what it calls Trump’s irresponsible, racist and reprehensible outburst.

Washington’s Ambassador to Gaborone’s been summoned to tell the Botswana Government whether President Donald Trump numbers the Southern African nation among the countries dismissed with a scatological epithet.

The Botswana statement deplores the derogatory remark from the leader of country with which it has cordial relations.

The White House has not denied Trump made the remark.

Trump himself says in a tweet his language while talking about immigration was strong although he maintains the widely reported foul-mouthed expression was not the one he used.

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