Botswana buys military weapons every year

Curiously Botswana fares badly in the list of countries participating in the UN registration of conventional arms. The country ranks the worst in East and Southern Africa in declaring military imports. Botswana is shown to have declared its military hardware imports only once between 1999 and 2008, according to a report by the United Nations, published on the UNROCA online database.

As a manufacturer and exporter of weapons, South Africa however is compelled to produce annual reports (National Conventional Arms Control Committee Annual Reports) to its Parliament and the UN to ensure transparency, although in some cases, data seems to have been deliberately distorted to conceal certain information about the importing entity including Botswana.