Namibians report Masisi, Segokgo to ICC
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday August 15, 2022 06:00
Following the November 2020 incident in which the BDF anti-poaching unit shot and killed three Nchindo brothers and a Zambian cousin on suspicion that they were poachers, CCG will not let the matter rest.
The Namibian pressure group has gone a step further to report amongst others Masisi and Segokgo for possible prosecution in hopes of justice for the killings. This is despite a joint Commission of Inquiry's findings that the soldiers acted within the law.
Delivering her ruling that exonerated the unit, Kasane Regional Magistrate, Taboka Mopipi in January this year found that the BDF had no intent to kill the four men but only retaliated after the slain "fishermen shot at them" first. “Therefore, the BDF members cannot be held criminally liable for the deaths of the deceased persons,” she said.
The Namibians were not happy with the outcome of the case and made their intentions clear to seek further recourse through various pressure groups. The CCG through their secretary-general, Edwin Samati on Thursday issued a statement announcing that the International Criminal Court ( ICC) has finally given them a glimmer of hope.
“We would like to inform the nation that Caprivi Concerned Group submitted a communication to the ICC on July 29, 2022, requesting that the court investigates and prosecutes either Mokgweetsi Masisi, Placid Segokgo, or the seven members of BDF who pulled the trigger to kill four unarmed fishermen on the night of November 5, 2020, in the Chobe River. Masisi is the Commander in Chief of the BDF, while Mr Segokgo is the Army General,” he wrote.
The group holds that extrajudicial killing or murder is a crime against humanity under the ICC Rome Statute which Botswana has been a signatory since 2008, therefore the court has jurisdiction over the country and can investigate or prosecute any individual citizen of that country for suspected crimes stipulated in the Rome Statute.
They also hold that BDF uses a shoot-to-kill approach which leads to fishermen being mistaken for poachers and being killed. “Members of BDF’s anti-poaching unit use shoot-to-kill policy which authorities in that country call the Standard Operation Procedures or Rules of Engagement. Through this policy, many people along Chobe River have been mistaken for poachers and therefore killed by the unit without a prior judicial process. The policy has never been scrutinised by an independent international judicial institution like the ICC to test it against international human rights law or specifically the ICC Rome Statute. Taking the matter to ICC provides a golden opportunity for a legal inquiry into the policy at an international level in order to vindicate, modify, or abolish it and to ensure justice,” Samati wrote further.
Samati said they had not served anything to the Botswana government. "The court will inform Botswana authority when the prosecutor will decide to investigate the matter. For now, we are just letting people know of the step we have taken," he said in a telephone interview.
In acknowledging receipt of the communication, the ICC assured the Caprivians that it would give consideration to the communication, as appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute.
In a letter dated August 1, from the ICC’s Head of Information and Evidence Unit, Office of the Prosecutor Mark Dillon wrote: “The communication has been duly entered in the Communications Register of the Office. We will give consideration as appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute of the ICC.”
Dillon further clarifies that the acknowledgement letter does not mean an investigation has been opened, nor that an investigation will be opened by the office of the prosecutor. They have to await a decision.
By the time of going to press, government was not aware of the developments. Permanent Secretary Government Communications John-Thomas Dipowe said he would liaise with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Botswana Embassy in Namibia to follow up on the matter. By end of business day Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister, Lemogang Kwape said it was all news to him.