Botswana is undermining Russia/China - Opposition

Mmegi Online: The opposition parties have critisised Botswana for its stance on the issue of violation of human rights in Syria.

Botswana National Front's publicity secretary, Moeti Mohwasa said Botswana is undermining Russia and China by criticising its decision to exercise veto power against the global efforts to put an end to the widespread violation of human rights in Syria.Russia and China's decisions are influenced by the 1993 resolution, which was passed, that enabled foreign intervention such as those in Libya and other countries, Mohwasa said. He added that the government protests for justice and fairness but has never stood up to criticise the West's abuse of the veto power during the slaughtering ofPalestinians by Israel. He said Botswana is like a pawn to the West and an en-colonialism government. "It is unfortunate that Botswana government was not able to intervene because when America was using the veto power, it was silent. It is not like we condone such, we have to look at the situation and approach it differently," he said.When commenting on this issue, Botswana Congress Party's spokesperson, Taolo Lucas said Botswana needs to take a crucial and diplomatic approach and engage Russia and Chinese embassies for better resolutions to the matter."Otherwise this reckless and inconsistency of foreign policies will spoil our relationships with other nations. As a country we need to refine our foreign relations so that we can build better relations globally," he said. Lucas also said Botswana always jumps into other sovereign states' ways of rulership and criticises them without consultation." He said such subliminal jabs come as personal interests of the Khama administration and when the Foreign Minister wishes to shout at other countries."Our government has a habit of shouting at some countries, like what they were doing with Zimbabwe, but never uttered a single word when the Soviet government abused its powers." he said. Meanwhile the government is appealing to the two countries to rethink their decisions on the Syria resolution. Mmegi has since established that the Foreign Affairs Minister, Phandu Skelemani summoned Chinese and Russian ambassadors on Sunday to urge them to alter their decision.