botswana/namibia - Cour international de Justice

It omits however to note that both before and after the independence of Botswana on the 30th
September 1966, maps had been published showing the correct location of the boundary in the
northern channel. The British authorities had published their own 1960 and 1965
Bechuanaland Protectorate Maps, and the 1968 Joint Operations Ground and Air Maps, and
after independence Botswana published the 1;50,000 and 1:1,000,000 series of its territory in
several editions. All these maps showed the boundary in the northern channel of the Chobe
River.
613. No protest on behalf of South Africa is on record relating to any of these maps.18
Further, her own Defence Forces over a period of ten years issued two maps which clearly
located the boundary in the northern channel. These were the JARIC Map 1978 (Botswana
Atlas, Map 22) and the 1984 Military Map: see paragraphs 616 to 619 below.
[18 At page 46 of his Report Mr. Rushworth refers to a map of district boundaries of 1957(serial 27) and a Water
development Scheme Map of 1963 (serial 28); the first map was prepared by officials for departmental use only,
the second by a Consultancy non-resident in Bechuanaland; both appear to have relied on the 1933 map and
therefore repeated its errors; neither the officials nor the Consultancy had authority or competence to deal with
international boundaries.]
The JARIC (Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre) Map 1978. (Botswana Atlas,
Map 22).
614. The map forms part of a series primarily of the Eastern Caprivi Strip, and its production
clearly reflects the need for accurate maps of this remote region by reason of the
intensification of the activities of SWAPO in the Caprivi Strip. It was produced by the
cartographic unit of the South African Defence Force, fully plotted from air photography
taken by the South African Air Force in 1977 in accordance with a Working Plan (Botswana
Supplementary Atlas Map 23, and accompanying Report: Annex 32.) It shows the boundary
in the northern channel of the Chobe. An extract of this map is reproduced at page 245,
together with an extract from the Flight Plan at page 246.
Map of South West Africa, 1982, 1:50,000 1982 Sheet No. 1725 CC.(Namibian Atlas XIII)
615. This map is the civilian version of the 1984 Military Map (see below) and no boundary is
shown in the Chobe River. Namibia's use of this map in its Memorial provides a further
example of misleading enlargement, whereby the omission of information present on the full
scale map gives a false impression.19
[19 In the correctly-sized map (Atlas XIII of the Namibian Memorial) the reference shows that international
boundaries are indicated by a black dash-dot line, although no boundary is in fact indicated on the map. In the
Extract of the same map printed as figure 5 at page 20 of the Namibian Memorial, the reference key is omitted;
and no black dash-dot line is shown anywhere dividing SW Africa from Botswana; the viewer's attention instead
being drawn to the darker brown colouring that shades the Chobe Ridge and the south bank of the river along
and beyond Commissioner's Kop. When read with the text in the Namibian Memorial:-
"Thus this conspicuous geographical feature divided two distinctive patterns of terrain and was an obvious
marker for the boundary between the two spheres of interest as well". (Para.17, see also para.116), this Extract
seeks to convey the impression that the boundary is depicted at the point where the colouring on the map
changes.]
Military Intelligence Map 1984 1:50,000, an updated annotation of the 3rd edition in full
colour of S Africa 1982 1725 CC map, (Botswana Supplementary Atlas, Map 15)