SOS Bushmen

The Bushmen of the Kalahari have a new and unexpected protector - Lily Cole, the striking supermodel who is the face of De Beers, the diamond giant. Survival International, the pressure group that campaigns on behalf of tribal peoples, says that Cole is refusing to work again for the huge former monopolist, having been alerted to allegations that the Bushmen are being evicted from their homes in Botswana to make way for diamond mines. It says that Cole is only the latest model to take a stand after being apprised of the forcible relocation of around 2,000 Bushmen - also known as the San or Basarwa - from land not far from where the world's finest diamonds are mined. "The supermodel Iman famously quit as the face of De Beers after meeting with Survival International,'' it says. And it claims that the British model, Erin O'Connor, had distanced herself from De Beers and that Julie Christie, the actress, is backing a campaign to boycott De Beers.