GABORONE, Botswana – Namibia and Botswana are lifting passport requirements on their border, in a first for southern Africa.
Namibian president Hage Geingob, speaking in the Botswana capital Gaborone on Friday, said nationals of the two countries would only need to produce IDs to move between the two countries.
“Our two countries not only share a common border, but also a common people and heritage. A symbiotic and inter-dependent relationship exists along our common borders,” Geingob said, speaking during the inaugural Botswana-Namibia bi-national commission.
“Therefore, I call on our senior officials to fast-track the implementation of the usage of Identity Documents (IDs) as travel documents between the two countries, without delay.”
Countries in the SADC bloc lifted visa requirements, but the Botswana-Namibia deal to allow nationals of the two countries to move freely across borders is without precedent.
