President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to visit Botswana on Wednesday following an invitation from President Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
President Kenyatta will fly to Gaborone for the one day official visit after his two day trip to South Africa and is to hold talks with President Khama on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
A statement from Botswana’s Office of the President confirming the visit read in part: “Botswana and Kenya enjoy cordial and longstanding bilateral relations which have laid a strong foundation for strengthening and deepening co-operation between the two countries.”
Botswana recently threw its weight behind President Kenyatta saying there was a legitimate reason to suspend his trial at the International Criminal Court.
Botswana’s minister of foreign affairs Phandu Skelemani said this would allow President Kenyatta to focus on the threat of terrorism by al-Shabaab in his country.
Last Thursday, the ICC postponed President Kenyatta’s trial to February 5, 2014. President Kenyatta had applied that his trial be postponed to at least February 12, 2014 while the prosecution wanted the postponement not go beyond February 3, 2014.
Botswana and Kenya have a history of co-operation, dating back to Nairobi’s support in 1966 through the training of doctors and railway workers, among others, shortly after the southern African country’s independence.
The bilateral relations between the two countries can be traced back to the founding leaders, Sir Seretse Khama and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta who are fathers of the current presidents.
