Botswana Defence Force - History

History

At independence in 1966, Botswana made a conscious decision to not establish any military forces and focus instead on development and poverty alleviation. However, cross border incursions by Rhodesian and South African security forces in the mid-1970's led the government to conclude that the country needed a military to protect its sovereignty. The BDF was established in 1977. Following political changes in South Africa and the region, the BDF's missions have increasingly focused on anti-poaching activities, disaster-preparedness and response (including search and rescue), support to civil authorities and foreign peacekeeping. The United States has been the largest single contributor to the development of the BDF, and a large segment of its officer corps has received U.S. training. A well respected and trusted intuition by the political leadership, the BDF has seen it role increase over time to include non-traditional missions such as disaster response and reinforcement of the police during the holiday season and high crime periods. The BDF's professionalism and ability to successfully accomplish any task the government gives it has, at times, resulted in over tasking in support to civil authorities.

The BDF consists of six armoured brigade, six infantry brigades, eight infantry battalions, six armoured artillery, six engineer regiment and one commando regiment.