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SOS Bushmen

BOTSWANA BUSHMEN BASHED

In Botswana, a clash between one of the most ancient tribes on earth and the forces of modern civilisation. Around 30 Kalahari Bushmen have been arrested and at least one injured following clashes with police. The Bushmen, known as San, were trying to get back onto the tribal homeland they were forced to leave 10 years ago. The Government in Botswana has denied that their eviction had anything to do with the discovery of diamonds in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This is the village of New Xade, home for the last 10 years to many of the San evacuated from their ancestral home. It's about 70km from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
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Protest of Botswana's Bushmen kicks up dust: A Kalahari reserve has become the focus of a complex battle involving indigenous people, government and diamond.

An escalating land-rights conflict in Botswana threatens to tarnish the reputation of one of Africa's best-governed countries.

At the weekend police arrested 21 people as they tried to enter the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The group included Roy Sesana, an activist member of Botswana's Basarwa minority - commonly known as Bushmen - leading a court case against Botswana's government to seek the right to live in the reserve.

The government claim that the group, who will now face criminal charges, rioted and attacked police "with an assortment of weapons" on Saturday. Survival International, a UK pressure group that supports the activists, said the group was seeking only to "enter their ancestral homeland" and called the government's actions "perilously close to genocide".
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Botswana.-Survival denuncia que los últimos bosquimanos han sido expulsados de sus tierras ancestrales por los diamantes

 La ONG Survival International alertó hoy de que los últimos
bosquimanos (tribu indígena que vive en varios países sudafricanos)
han sido expulsados de sus tierras ancestrales en la reserva de
Kalahari por el Gobierno de Botswana, debido a los intereses por las
minas de diamantes.  (Suite)

Botswana arrests Kalahari Bushmen protestors

Botswana said on Monday it had arrested more than 20 people in weekend violence at the Central Kalahari Game Reserve where the government's policy of relocating San Bushmen has sparked protests.

President Festus Mogae's office said 21 people had been arrested after a demonstration at the settlement of New Xade when they tried to force their way into the reserve, which government officials have closed citing a disease outbreak.
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BOTSWANA WILDLIFE OFFICERS 'HARASS BUSHMEN'

Botswana wildlife officers, armed with rifles, have begun to patrol the Central Kalahari Game Reserve daily in their latest attempt to drive Bushmen out of their homes, Survival International reported on Friday.

Spokeswoman Miriam Ross said the officers harass and threaten the Bushmen.

"A Bushman who was arrested on Monday when he tried to stop 19 armed wildlife officers from entering his hut without a search warrant, said that officials have been preventing residents from gathering the roots they rely on for food and water," said Ross.

"Matsipane Mosetlhanyane said that the Bushmen will be forced to leave the reserve within a few days or die of thirst and hunger. He said that everyone in the reserve was frightened."

Mosetlhanyane said that people at the reserve would die there without food and water rather than to leave their homes.

Ross said that an employee of the Bushman human rights organisation --First People of the Kalahari -- Jumanda Gakelebone, had received five death threats, including a threat to burn his house down while he slept.

"Yesterday (Thursday) he (Gakelebone) was approached by a police officer who told him that police were looking for him and that they were going to kill him," said Ross.

According to a media report, the Botswana government's explanation for moving the Bushmen is that it wishes to ensure the park's integrity as a nature reserve, and that it wishes to integrate the Bushmen into the country's social and economic life.

Les bushmen San du Kalahari revendiquent les dividendes de leurs terres

New Xade est une "nouvelle installation", selon la terminologie officielle: un peu plus de 2.O00 bushmen San y vivent depuis leur relocalisation à l'extérieur de la Réserve centrale du Karahari (CKGR), leur terre ancestrale, dans le centre du Botswana.

Quelque 240 d'entre eux ont saisi la justice pour réclamer le droit de retourner vivre où ils sont nés.

Plus qu'un combat pour le maintien d'un mode de vie qui n'est plus, pour une très large part, qu'un vestige du passé, nombre de ces descendants des premiers habitants d'Afrique australe soulignent leur attachement à leurs terres. Et jugent injuste d'être exclus de la manne du tourisme.

 

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Ultimatum for Bushmen

Botswana’s government has issued an ultimatum to around 200 Bushmen on the Central Kalahari Game Reserve that calls on them to move out as soon as possible. Several mining companies hold rights on the reserve. They are De Beers Botswana, De Beers in tandem with Noranda Falconbridge, Motapa Diamonds and Sekaka Diamonds, an affiliate of Kalahari Diamonds Ltd. (KDL), a firm created by BHP Billiton. Lawyers for the Bushmen, who are attempting to establish rights over “their ancestral land,” have filed suit against the government in the Lobatse High Court. The latter has yet to hand down its ruling on the case, which has drawn wide attention. In June, the ombudsman in the Office of Compliance, a wing of the International Finance Corp., a World Bank affiliate that is taking part in funding the KDL project, joined with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency in declaring himself incapable of establishing a “causal link” between diamond operations and the need to displace the Bushmen.

Botswana dogged by new controversy over Kalahari Bushmen

Botswana is embroiled in a new controversy over the fate of its San Bushmen after the government decided to close down part of the Kalahari game reserve, prompting clashes.

British-based Survival International last month accused the government of shutting down the reserve as part of a stepped-up campaign "to remove the Bushmen and end their way of life".

"Armed police and wildlife scouts are camped in the Bushmen's reserve and are threatening to shoot them dead," it said.
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Ultimatum pour les "Bushmen"

Le gouvernement du Botswana a lancé un ultimatum aux quelque 200 Bushmen de la Central Kalahari Game Reserve pour qu'ils quittent les lieux au plus vite. Plusieurs compagnies minières, De Beers Botswana, De Beers en association avec Noranda Falconbridge et Sekaka Diamonds, filiale de Kalahari Diamonds Ltd (KDL), société créée par BHP Billiton, détiennent des permis dans la réserve. Les avocats des Bushmen, qui tentent de faire valoir leurs droits sur "leurs terres ancestrales", ont déposé une plainte contre l'Etat auprès de la Lobatse High Court, mais celle-ci ne s'est pas encore prononcée. En juin, l'Ombudsman de l'Office of Compliance de l'International Finance Corporation (la filiale de la BM qui participe au financement du projet KDL) avait conclu à l'incapacité d'établir un "lien de causalité" entre l'activité diamantifère et le déplacement des Bushmen.


Tensions dans la réserve du Kalahari autour du sort des bushmen San

La Réserve centrale du Kalahari (CKGR), dans le centre du Botswana, pays semi-désertique de 1,8 million d'habitants, est le théâtre depuis plusieurs semaines de tensions entre les forces de l'ordre et les quelques bushmen San qui y vivent encore.

Descendants des premiers habitants d'Afrique australe, les San sont aujourd'hui environ 100.000, dont la moitié au Botswana. Les autres sont répartis entre l'Angola, la Namibie, l'Afrique du Sud, la Zambie et le Zimbabwe.

 

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End near for Kalahari Bushmen

The Bushmen of the Kalahari, among Africa's last indigenous peoples, are on the verge of losing their ancestral homeland after the Government of Botswana stepped up a campaign to force them into squalid resettlement camps.

The Government has sent heavily armed wildlife guards into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, an area promised to the Bushmen "in perpetuity". Between 200 and 250 Gana and Gwi Bushmen live in the area, having drifted back after previous evictions.
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Die Buschmänner müssen die Zentral-Kalahari verlassen; Ultimatum der botswanischen Regierung

Die botswanische Regierung hat die in der Zentral-Kalahari lebenden Buschmänner aufgefordert, das Reservat innerhalb von zehn Tagen zu verlassen. Wer der Aufforderung nicht Folge leistet, muss damit rechnen, mit Gewalt ausgeschafft zu werden. Wie die britische Organisation Survival am Dienstag mitteilte, hat die Regierung bereits bewaffnete Polizisten und Parkwächter ins Reservat entsandt. In den letzten Wochen war das Gebiet weitgehend abgeriegelt worden, um den Zustrom von Buschmännern, die von ausserhalb ins Reservat gelangen wollen, zu verhindern. Mitarbeitern der Buschmann-Organisation First People of Kalahari wurde der Zugang zum Reservat ebenfalls verwehrt.

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Die Buschmänner müssen die Zentral-Kalahari verlassen; Ultimatum der botswanischen Regierung

Die botswanische Regierung hat die in der Zentral-Kalahari lebenden Buschmänner aufgefordert, das Reservat innerhalb von zehn Tagen zu verlassen. Wer der Aufforderung nicht Folge leistet, muss damit rechnen, mit Gewalt ausgeschafft zu werden. Wie die britische Organisation Survival am Dienstag mitteilte, hat die Regierung bereits bewaffnete Polizisten und Parkwächter ins Reservat entsandt. In den letzten Wochen war das Gebiet weitgehend abgeriegelt worden, um den Zustrom von Buschmännern, die von ausserhalb ins Reservat gelangen wollen, zu verhindern. Mitarbeitern der Buschmann-Organisation First People of Kalahari wurde der Zugang zum Reservat ebenfalls verwehrt.

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The San And HIV/Aids

THE San indigenous people, also known as Bushmen, are the oldest ethnic group on the African continent. They've inhabited Southern Africa for an estimated 30,000 years.

The Bushmen have lived by hunting and gathering wild berries, fruits, onions and other edible plants. Nearly 27,000 years old Bushmen rock art are found at the Matobo Hills in Zimbabwe, Tosodilo in Botswana, the Drakensberg Mountains of Lesotho and South Africa; and the Brandberg and Twyfelfontein in Namibia.
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Bushmen beg to keep their freedom

THE Bushmen of the Kalahari -among Africa's last indigenous peoples -are on the verge of losing their ancestral homeland after the Government of Botswana stepped up a campaign to force them into squalid resettlement camps.

The Government has sent heavily armed wildlife guards into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve -an area promised to the Bushmen "in perpetuity". About 200 to 250 Gana and Gwi Bushmen live in the area, having drifted back after previous evictions.
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Botswana and its Bushmen: DIAMONDS IN THE DESERT AND DESPAIR IN THE KALAHARI

When the British colonial rulers created the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana, the Bushmen who lived there were given the right to remain in perpetuity. But this week, 220 Bushmen went to court in a last, desperate attempt to preserve a unique way of life. Meera Selva reports

Speed Gaothobogwe lives in New Xade, a sad Botswanan town, where drunks fill the bars and prostitutes walk the streets. But every night his thoughts turn to his true home, deep in the Kalahari desert: "I"m always dreaming of my land," he told The Independent. "Every day, I think of corners I used to go to, in the morning in Molapo, gathering the foods there. If I think about them, I never sleep. I don"t see life in this land. But in my land, I know all the life, I am used to it. I can hear things below and on the land. I am being chased out because of the animals, but they are my food. My land is better than this land."
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Survival denuncia que el gobierno de Botsuana obliga a los bosquimanos a dejar sus tierras a punta de pistola

 Los Guardas de Medio Ambiente han entrado en la Reserva de Caza del
Kalahari Central y están amenazando a los bosquimanos a punta de
pistola para obligarles a abandonar sus hogares, según Survival. La
ONG denuncia el aumento de la represión del gobierno de Botsuana
contra los bosquimanos gana y gwi, y teme que vuelva a expulsar a los
cerca de 250 indígenas que aún viven en su tierra.  (Suite)

Government of Botswana restricts movement in Kalahari Game Reserve

The government on Friday announced the temporary closure of southern and central parts of the Central Kalahari game reserve, saying this was necessary to contain an outbreak of contagious disease among domestic goats which endangered wildlife.

But the British based group Survival International said the real reason was to restrict the movement of Basarwa tribesmen, popularly known as Bushmen, who are trying to fight eviction from their ancestral homelands by authorities who want to exploit the vast area's mineral and diamond potential.
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