Botswana Bushmen head to U.S. to raise money.
Botswana's Bushmen called on Wednesday for international funding to help a court battle against their eviction by the government from ancestral lands in the Kalahari desert.
Roy Sesana and Jumanta Gakelebone of the First People of the Kalahari left for the United States on Wednesday, saying they hoped to present their case to the U.S. Senate and the State Department, and to address the U.N. General Assembly.
"We want help, we want the world to come to our assistance," a statement quoted Sesana as saying. "We do not intend to tarnish Botswana's image, but we want justice."
Lawyers for the Bushmen, known in Botswana as the Basarwa, say the government violated the constitution when it ordered them out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2001, saying their lands were too vast to be reached by essential services.
The legal battle involves lands rich in diamonds, which have helped transform Botswana into one of Africa's most developed economies with one of its highest per capita incomes.
Hearings in a court bid by the group to remain in the reserve were postponed to Nov. 3 last month after it ran out of money to fund the case, which has already won international support from donors in seven countries.
The government says the Bushmen, who traditionally lived as hunters and gatherers, must be integrated into mainstream society if they are to benefit from education, medical services and job opportunities.
Gakelebone said the Bushmen should be fully involved in such decisions affecting their welfare. "We are not primitive people clad in skins and making fire by rubbing two twigs together."
"We want to be involved in eco-tourism projects to sustain ourselves. We have been harassed for too long. Our youth are roaming aimlessly, some of our people don't have water. Our problems are endless."
Sesana and Gakelebone will meet other traditional groups from around the world in the United States, including the Xhomani Bushmen from South Africa, Masai from Kenya, and the Maori from New Zealand, their statement said.
Lawyers for the Bushmen, known in Botswana as the Basarwa, say the government violated the constitution when it ordered them out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2001, saying their lands were too vast to be reached by essential services.
The legal battle involves lands rich in diamonds, which have helped transform Botswana into one of Africa's most developed economies with one of its highest per capita incomes.
Hearings in a court bid by the group to remain in the reserve were postponed to Nov. 3 last month after it ran out of money to fund the case, which has already won international support from donors in seven countries.
The government says the Bushmen, who traditionally lived as hunters and gatherers, must be integrated into mainstream society if they are to benefit from education, medical services and job opportunities.
Gakelebone said the Bushmen should be fully involved in such decisions affecting their welfare. "We are not primitive people clad in skins and making fire by rubbing two twigs together."
"We want to be involved in eco-tourism projects to sustain ourselves. We have been harassed for too long. Our youth are roaming aimlessly, some of our people don't have water. Our problems are endless."
Sesana and Gakelebone will meet other traditional groups from around the world in the United States, including the Xhomani Bushmen from South Africa, Masai from Kenya, and the Maori from New Zealand, their statement said.
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25 Août 2004 à 11:22 dans
- English
