2 South African Soldiers Seized, Botswana Says : Pair Reportedly Were Part of Commando Unit in Cross-Border Raid

The president of Botswana said Tuesday that his government’s security forces have arrested two white South African soldiers who were part of a commando unit preparing to carry out a raid in Botswana’s capital.

President Quett Masire said the arrests, at a roadblock late Monday night, came after five members of a multiracial South African military patrol had opened fire on six unarmed Botswana police officers near the border with South Africa. Three of the Botswana officers were injured, one critically, he said.

It was the first incident in which South African soldiers involved in a cross-border raid have been reported captured.

The South African Defense Force confirmed Tuesday night that one of its patrols, “gathering information in Botswana,” had been involved in a shooting. But it declined to say whether any of its men had been arrested.

It said its soldiers were fired on first by the Botswana policemen.

South Africa’s troops have carried out many cross-border raids into Botswana and other neighboring countries, attacking targets believed to be bases and hide-outs of the African National Congress, the principal guerrilla group fighting South Africa’s white minority-led government.

Botswana is South Africa’s best friend among the so-called front-line states in southern Africa and is one of those most economically dependent on South Africa. (The black-ruled front-line states also include Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.)

Complained Publicly

But Botswana has complained publicly about the cross-border raids, including one March 28 in which commandos killed three Botswana citizens and a South African man and burned to the ground the house where the four were found.

“The problems of apartheid in South Africa will not be solved by cross-border raids, murder of innocent civilians and shooting at unarmed policemen in cold blood,” Masire said. “We once more condemn those acts of state terrorism by the South African government.”

In a statement issued in Pretoria, the South African military command said that “this action was not aimed against the government or the people of Botswana.” It dismissed as preposterous the suggestion that South Africa was a terrorist state, especially because the suggestion came from a country that “allows terrorists to operate from its territory” against South Africa.

Botswana gave this account of the clash with South African soldiers: A six-man Botswana police patrol surprised seven South African commandos near a railroad track at the border. Two white South Africans drove away when the police arrived; they were later arrested at a roadblock. The remaining five commandos--three whites and two blacks--fired on the police and fled in the police vehicle, which was later found abandoned.