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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The pipeline: Botswana's reception of refugees, 1956-68
Author:Parsons, NeilISNI
Year:2008
Periodical:Social Dynamics
Volume:34
Issue:1
Pages:17-32
Language:English
Geographic terms:Southern Africa
Botswana
Subjects:refugees
national liberation struggles
1950-1959
1960-1969
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533950802078897
Abstract:This article covers Botswana's emergence as a place of refuge from its troubled white-ruled neighbours in the 1950s and 1960s. Botswana's reception of refugees is seen as a symptom of, and as a catalyst for, its growing identification as a distinct nation in the region. From 1956, Bechuanaland colonial authorities distanced themselves from apartheid South Africa, and from 1957-1958 the country received significant influxes of political refugees. The author pays particular attention to the 'pipeline' that took refugees north across the Zambezi. This was initially protected from local police interference probably by Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Nelson Mandela, alias 'David Motsamayi', used the pipeline 'down' as well as 'up' to re-enter South Africa. Such arrangements continued through independence in 1966 but were almost terminated when guerrilla fighters tried to use Botswana as a refuge in 1966-1967. Revaluation of policy towards refugees in Botswana government circles resulted after 1969 in more overt moral support for liberation movements and, boosted by new economic strength, more self-confident assertion of national sovereignty against neighbouring countries. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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