P 241528Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY GABORONE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5056
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY

UNCLAS GABORONE 000511 
 
DEPT. FOR AF/S, AF/RSA, OFDA 
PRETORIA FOR USAID 
USAFRICOM FOR STRATEGY PLANS AND PROGRAMS (MC) SOUTHERN 
BRANCH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: BC PGOV PREF ZI
SUBJECT: BOTSWANA PREPARES FOR HORDES OF ZIMBABWEAN ASYLUM 
SEEKERS 
 
REF: GABORONE 470 
 
¶1. The Office of the President organized a fact-finding trip 
to Francistown and environs June 15-17 to familiarize members 
of the diplomatic community with their plans to process and 
care for potentially thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing the 
violence in their country.  Those participating were myself, 
the British High Commissioner, staff from the German and 
French Embassies, the UNHCR Representative based in Gaborone 
and the UNHCR Representative for Humanitarian Assistance 
based in Harare.  The diplomats were selected on the basis 
that we have citizens in Zimbabwe who may need assistance. 
Per reftel, the Government of Botswana has told us that we 
may do whatever we need to do to assist our citizens, 
including bringing in military aircraft. 
 
¶2.  By BDF helicopters, we traveled first to Dukwe Refugee 
camp, about 140 km north west of Francistown, where 
approximately 500 Zimbabwean refugees have been screened and 
admitted since April 1.  They are being housed in tents 
provided by the Government of Botswana and the UNHCR.  There 
are plans to exand the tent city as needed with water pipes 
andlatrines being installed as we visited.  The direcor of 
the camp said that the long-time residents-- mostly 
Namibians, Angolans and Somalis -- arewelcoming the 
Zimbabweans, and the children have been assimilated easily 
into the school. 
 
¶3.  We then traveled to three of the seven "reception 
centers" located along the Botswana/Zimbabwe border.  There 
the potential refugees will be screened, fed and given a 
place to sleep for up to 72 hours.  They will then be 
transferred to the Center for Illegal Immigrants in 
Francistown or the Dukwe camp.  The reception centers are in 
the process of being set up, and will have tents, mattresses, 
latrines or flush toilets and showers for the staff and 
asylum seekers.  Food will also be provided for the 
Zimbabweans, since those who have already come across were 
described as exhausted and very hungry, with some having 
suffered beatings and torture.  The reception centers have 
been located no closer than 40 km from the border with 
Zimbabwe, since many still remember the 1970s when troops 
from the apartheid regime in Southern Rhodesia raided and 
killed a number of Zimbabweans and Batswana in camps near the 
border. 
 
¶4.  The reception centers have all been organized by the 
District Disaster Committees, made up of local 
representatives of government agencies and NGOs such as the 
Red Cross.  We were all impressed with how much has been done 
in just a few weeks, and how well they are working as a team. 
 While they seem to have sufficient resources to meet the 
needs of the current influx, if thousands of Zimbabweans 
stream across the border in the future, they will certainly 
need help.  I have asked my staff to work with the OFDA 
representative in Pretoria to have a request for $50,000 in 
disaster assistance ready to go should the GOB request it. 
 
 
CANAVAN