Ex-Botswana leader asks court to set aside arrest order

Former president of Botswana Ian Khama has asked the High Court in the nation's capital of Gaborone to quash an arrest order that was issued by a magistrate court last week, according to Reuters.

The judge gave the ruling that Mr. Khama, who left power in 2018, be detained immediately for failing to show up for his trial earlier in the year.

According to Reuters, Mr. Khama stated in the filing on Thursday that the warrant of arrest "threatens my right to liberty in circumstances where I have committed no crime...should this warrant of arrest not be stayed or set aside...I would suffer irreparable harm which cannot be compensated for in any form."

Although the arrest warrant was issued in connection with a charge of possession of five illegal firearms, the man is accused of handling stolen property and faces 14 charges total, including suspicions of money laundering.

After a disagreement with his successor President Mokgweetsi Masisi, the 69-year-old refuted the allegations and said they were the result of a political plot.

Mr. Khama relocated to the neighboring country of South Africa after leaving Botswana last year.

He said that the accusations were "manufactured" and that he believed members of Mr. Masisi's administration wanted to "do me harm" in an interview with the BBC's Focus on Africa program in April of last year.

His claims that an assassination was being plotted were deemed "outrageous" by the authorities.

John-Thomas Dipowe, a government spokesman at the time, said: "The narrative that the former president and his family members are being persecuted is devoid of any fact."