President Mokgweetsi Masisi decision to snub a United Nations enquiry has given a free pass to former President Lt Gen Ian Khama’s assassination claims.
The United Nations’ former special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard on 26th March wrote to President Masisi demanding answers to Khama’s complaints that the Botswana government is planning to assassinate him.
Callamard letter was based on Khama’s complaint in which the former president alleged that, “three intelligence agencies from states outside Botswana” have issued credible warnings of threats to his life. The warnings were allegedly partially based on intercepted communications, including those of the authorities.
According to Khama’s complaint, “the reports refer to three planned attempts on Mr Khama’s life, including the use of biochemical poison in two cases. One of the intelligence reports included a seemingly transcribed discussion on the administration of strychnine powder, which is readily available in Botswana (including the quantity that should be used, the best way to administer it and the general effects on any victim) and explicitly mentioned the intention of targeting opponents of current President Masisi including Khama and another former high-level official.”
Indications are that Masisi snubbed Callamard’s enquiry. A press statement dated 9th July 2021 charges “The UNSR raises serious questions for the government of Botswana to answer, and despite an obligation to cooperate with the UN’s human rights mechanism, the Government of Botswana has failed to respond. This deliberate silence speaks volumes for this administration’s contempt for the rule of law, lack of respect for international norms and accountability, and an abdication of its responsibilities to citizens.”
The press release further states, “these latest allegations form part of an ongoing vendetta against President Khama and his supporters illuminating the desperation of a campaign orchestrated by the government which is now out of control.”
Amnesty International is expected to take a similar position against the Masisi administration. Khama is believed to have filed another complaint with the international human rights watchdog. Callamard who has now taken up a new appointment as Amnesty International’s secretary-general is unlikely to take a position that contradicts her decision while she was UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions.
Even before Botswana could respond to her queries, Callamard’s body language suggested that she was already convinced that the Masisi administration is plotting to assassinate Khama.
In her letter to Masisi, she states, “without prejudging the accuracy of these allegations, the information received appears sufficiently reliable to raise serious concern about the risk to life of former president Ian Khama…. I am particularly concerned at the reported attempts on Mr. Khama’s life by organs of the state corroborated by several sources. This is compounded by allegations that his security detail has been significantly reduced despite the risk to his life, and despite the concerns raised by Mr. Khama. I am further concerned that reportedly no steps have been taken to investigate the planned attempts on Mr Khama’s life… I am equally concerned with the dismissive responses of the authorities to the allegations, indicating disconcerting disregard for the serious threats against Mr. Khama’s life.”
She further states that, “I note that according to information received in this case, the alleged planned attempt on Mr. Khama’s life are supported by reference to a range of sources, that the perpetrators apparently have the means and position to carry out the threats and the profile of Mr Khama places him in a specific situation of vulnerability.
In her letter to President Masisi, the United Nations’ former special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, states that, “Mr. Khama was informed by a reliable source of a plan to assassinate him in mid-2019 (during the general election). The plan reportedly involved the use of a highly radioactive substance to be administered during Mr. Khama’s visit to an isolated conservation resort in Botswana, 900 kilometres away from Gaborone. Mr Khama visited the camp frequently but exceptionally did not do so in 2019 and the plan was aborted.”
According to Khama’s complaint, the information was corroborated by a second source.
In his complaint, Khama stated that “further witnesses have corroborated the planned assassination at the resort and indicated that the plan was to use an isotope of polonium which was secured from a neighbouring country in anticipation of a visit from Mr Khama to the camp.”
Polonium was used in the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was one of the most high-profile assassinations of the decade. It particularly captured the public imagination because Litvinenko was killed using polonium-210, a rare but deadly substance that was thought to have been slipped into Litvinenko’s tea.
The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is also believed to have been poisoned with radioactive polonium. A Swiss forensic report stated that tests on his body showed “unexpected high activity” of polonium, which “moderately” supported the poisoning theory. Many Palestinians believe that Israel poisoned Arafat.
