the national jurisdiction, since he had been forced into exile and that he had suffered heavy financial losses
due to the confiscation of his belongings by the Botswana Police.
18. On 22nd February 1994, the Complainant acknowledged receipt of the copy of the notification
addressed by the Secretariat to the government on 29th January 1994. He also called on the Commission
to consider his case, as he believed that he had exhausted all the available local remedies. A short
chronicle of the case was attached to the said correspondence.
19. The Complainant wrote again on 24th October 1994 in reply to the Secretariat's correspondence dated
8th August 1994, to confirm having exhausted local remedies.
20. At its 16th Session held in October 1994, the Commission re-examined the communication and decided
to defer its decision until it received information on the manner in which other human rights bodies handle
cases involving Complainants that lack financial means.
21. At the 17th Session, the communication was declared admissible. It was considered appropriate to
assign the case to the Commissioner covering Botswana to deal with under his human rights promotion
activities. Consequently, responsibility was assigned to Commissioner Janneh. However, no concrete
measures were taken.
22. On 20th April 1995, a correspondence was dispatched to the Complainant to inform him of the decision
regarding the admissibility of the communication.
23. On 18th May 1995, a letter was received from the European Commission on Human Rights in reply to
the Secretariat's request regarding the issue of financial difficulties.
24. On 26th May 1995, a correspondence was sent to the Botswana government to inform it of the decision
on admissibility taken by the Commission and to request it to consider an amicable settlement of the case.
There was no response from the Government of Botswana.
25. On 23rd September 1995, the Commission received a correspondence dated 15th May 1995 from the
non-governmental organisation, INTERIGHTS informing it that it had been designated by Mr Modise to
represent him at the next session of the Commission. In this regard, Mr Modise's letter to INTERIGHTS
dated 2nd December 1994 was annexed to the said correspondence.
26. The same envelope contained a second letter from INTERIGHTS dated 15th May, stating that the NGO
had just been informed of the decision on admissibility taken by the Commission at its 17th Session and
requesting, therefore, that a formal notification of the said admissibility be addressed to it. INTERIGHTS
also enclosed an explanatory note on the case and the demands of the Complainant, and indicated its
intention to be present at Praia, at the 18th Session, to argue the case.
27. At the 18th Session held in October 1995, the Commission heard the counsel of the Complainant, Mr
Odinkalu. It was decided to defer the decision on the merits in order to allow some time for the efforts at
arranging an amicable settlement and, if necessary, the case would be re-examined at the 19th Session.
28. On 19th October 1995, the Secretariat received by fax a Note Verbale from the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Botswana with the information that the Head of State had granted Botswana nationality to Mr
Modise, and that his certificate of nationality had been sent to him by post on 26th June 1995.
29. On 30th November 1995, a copy of this Note Verbale was dispatched to Mr Odinkalu with a letter
informing him that if the Commission did not receive any contrary information before its next session, the
granting of nationality would be considered an amicable settlement.
30. On 14th December 1995, the Secretariat received a letter from Mr Odinkalu, counsel to the
Complainant, indicating that he did not consider the granting of nationality as an amicable settlement and
asking the Commission to continue the examination of the case.
31. On 28th December 1995, the Secretariat received correspondence from Commissioner Dankwa asking
for copies of all documentation relevant to the case for his use during a mission to Botswana.
32. On 25th January 1996, the Secretariat received faxed correspondence from Mr Odinkalu indicating his
intention to send some supplementary information to the Commission.
33. On 13th February 1996, the Secretariat received a letter from Commissioner Dankwa asking for copies
of certain pages of Mr Modise's passport. The Secretariat forwarded them to him by fax.
34. On 23rd February 1996, the Secretariat sent a fax message to Commissioner Dankwa inquiring about
the results of his mission to Botswana.
35. On 28th February 1996, Mr Odinkalu, counsel for the Complainant, presented an additional note
describing the special conditions of the nationality by naturalisation granted to Mr Modise.
36. On 1st March 1996, the Secretariat received a fax message from Commissioner Dankwa informing it
that he had not been able to carry out his mission to Botswana before the 19th Session.
37. During the 19th Session, the communication was not examined.
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