Festus Mogae, Botswana's President, last week rejected a direct appeal by academics to allow political science professor Kenneth Good to return to the country until his teenage daughter completes her secondary school studies.
Professor Good was declared a prohibited immigrant after 15 years at the University of Botswana.
Henning Melba, research director of the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, and Roger Southall, of South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council, spent 35 minutes with the President.