Namibia) Memorial of the Republic of Botswana, Vol. 1 (original) (raw)

Between 1992, when Botswana and Namibia agreed to appoint a a Joint Team of Technical Experts to determine the disputed boundary between the two countries around Kasikili/Sedudu Island on the basis of that Treaty and of the applicable principles of international law, and 1999 when the International Court of Justice reached a Judgement in favour of Botswana with respect to the dispute, I was actively involved as a member of the Botswana Sedudu Task Force, which had set up by the Office of the President under the supervision of the Permanent Secretary for Political Affairs, Mr. Molosiwa Louis Selepeng. The Botswana Team Leader was the late Prof. Ian Brownlee, C.B.E., Q.C., deputized by the Hon, Abednego Tafa, who was then our Deputy Attorney General. In the above context it largely fell on my shoulders to undertake historical research, including the discovery of past documents and map evidence, relevant to the case. This assignment ultimately involved extensive archival research in Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the Botswana archives and fieldwork in the Chobe District. My expectation is that my contributions as well as those of the other members of the Task Force are documented and should become available to interested members of the public through the appropriate declassification protocols over time. It is also my intent to donate private papers to the Botswana National Archives. Public papers relevant to the case, as drafted by Botswana and Namibia, as well as the final Judgement itself, have in the meantime been published online by the website of the International Court of Justice, available @ https://www.icj-cij.org/case/98\. I have here shared from the site Botswana’s lead document. i.e. “Case Concerning Kasikili/Sedudu Island (Botswana/Namibia) Memorial of the Republic of Botswana, Vol. 1”, which outlines the core of the Botswana case, including chapters on history and map evidence with which this author was especially engaged as part of a wider collective effort.