Botswana to gift Angola 8,000 elephants
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday July 25, 2023 06:00
At a press briefing held on Friday at the Office of the President (OP) by both President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his counterpart, Lourenço, the latter said the reason why they had not yet received the elephants was because of what was happening in his country at that time. “Now Angola is ready to accept those elephants and the ministers responsible will start the process.
Those elephants will help us in our tourism sector and may also help in reducing elephant/human conflicts in the country. Some of these elephants migrated to Botswana during the civil war in our country. Botswana and Angola share a lot of areas for common interest,” Lourenço said. With the human-wildlife conflict cases increasing over the years, government has revealed that it spent P38.4 million in compensating for damage caused by wild animals between the years 2020 and 2021.
These are costs incurred for damage caused by elephants and six other wildlife species that attract wildlife compensation namely lion, leopard, hippo, rhino, buffalo, and crocodile.
Still at the press briefing, President Lourenço said both countries would continue to cooperate in different sectors such as fuel, gas, and energy. In the spirit of reciprocity, Lourenço wants Botswana to take advantage of potential opportunities in their sectors and also invest in his country in some areas that could benefit their counterpart.
He said his country is building a new oil and port gas, and he wants Botswana to be a shareholder in it. The petroleum industry is key and accounts for almost 75% of the country’s revenues in Angola. It records an estimated 17.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas production from associated oil. On diamonds, Lourenço said his country is willing to learn from Botswana on issues related to diamond cutting and polishing since it has the experience. He said that Angola was moving in that direction, but that is not enough.
While in the beef sector, the Angolan President said Botswana can export its beef to the country as they are ready to also buy cattle from Botswana since most of their cattle production was affected by the civil war.
He said conflicts within his country have resulted in failure to keep a large number of cattle. He also stressed that it is important to have a road that connects SADC countries. Meanwhile, Masisi also said Botswana is willing and ready to support Angola and its government where necessary and to learn from it. “We are going to support President Lourenço for SADC chairperson and also when he contests for the same position at the AU level. Again we are willing to take advantage of any oil/gas port if it makes sense to us,” he said.
Lourenço was in Botswana for a three-day state visit.