Minister Denies Secret Troop Deployment

Allegations of secret foreign deployment of troops emerged recently following the death of BDF's Major Gaolatlhe Tiro after a surprise attack by rebels at a military base in southern Sudan. The attack killed a number of soldiers serving in a multinational force under the African Union (AU). There are claims that Parliament should have been consulted before Botswana sent troops to Sudan.

But Skelemani, who is the former Attorney General, explained that there is nothing in the BDF Act that suggests that MPs should be consulted before soldiers are deployed on peace-keeping abroad. "Unless BDF members are going on a war mission in a foreign land, that is when they (MPs) could be consulted," he explained.