UN agency picks 17 fraudulently registered “Botswana ships”

AFP, a leading news agency, using data from maritime monitor, MarineTraffic, reported that the ship, known as Hai Long 1, is Chinese-owned but flies under the Botswana flag. The ship was coming from Iran and was almost done transiting the contentious strait by Wednesday. The Botswana flag or Botswana registration has been falsely flying from the sterns of at least 17 ships since the beginning of the year, according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

The IMO is a United Nations specialised agency responsible for the safety and security of global shipping. Botswana joined the organisation in October 2021. ‘A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle’.- George William CurtisAccording to the report carried in this publication, the fraudsters operating the so-called “dark fleet” have selected Botswana’s flag as their cover of choice. This is a direct assault on our country’s most valuable asset, the good name.For decades, Botswana has…