Botswana Bushmen say tortured by wildlife officials
A group waging a legal war against Botswana's government over the rights of the Bushman people accused wildlife officials on Thursday of torturing traditional hunters, but a government official denied it.
The First People of the Kalahari said in a statement that wildlife officials in Botswana tortured seven Bushmen from the country's Central Kalahari Game Reserve early this month, after accusing them of hunting in the protected area.
The First People of the Kalahari said in a statement that wildlife officials in Botswana tortured seven Bushmen from the country's Central Kalahari Game Reserve early this month, after accusing them of hunting in the protected area.
Jumanda Gakelebone, of the First People of the Kalahari, said one man in his late 60's was hung upside down from a pole while his hands were stamped on, while another was beaten in the groin and had petrol poured into his anus.
Some were handcuffed to the bullbar on the front of a landcruiser and beaten, while others were forced to run in front of it for a kilometre, he added, saying police in the settlement did not want to get involved.
"These people are now very afraid. They don't know whether they will ever be safe," the organisation said in its statement.
M. J. Gaboiphiwe, the government wildlife official in charge of the area, denied Bushmen had been tortured.
"These people always say things that tarnish the Botswana government, for what reason I have no idea," he told Reuters.
"These allegations are not true, we do not torture illegal hunters we are trying to make people aware of the hunting laws in Botswana instead."
A group of the nomadic hunter-gatherer Bushmen are fighting a court battle with the government for the right to continue their traditional lifestyle in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where their ancestors roamed for thousands of years.
Hearings began last year but have been intermittent due in part to the Bushmen's lack of money to pay their legal team.
Botswana says the Bushmen, also known as San, need to be integrated into society to benefit from education, medical services and jobs, and have moved most of them into settlements just outside the Kalahari reserve.
Gakelebone said the Bushmen were rounded up at the Kaudwane resettlement camp outside the reserve three weeks ago and taken to a border crossing about 200 km (125 miles) from Gaborone.
The Bushmen are not allowed to hunt in the reserve, but some are granted licences to hunt outside.
Gakelebone said only two of the seven Bushmen had any meat with them when they were detained by reserve officials.
Some were handcuffed to the bullbar on the front of a landcruiser and beaten, while others were forced to run in front of it for a kilometre, he added, saying police in the settlement did not want to get involved.
"These people are now very afraid. They don't know whether they will ever be safe," the organisation said in its statement.
M. J. Gaboiphiwe, the government wildlife official in charge of the area, denied Bushmen had been tortured.
"These people always say things that tarnish the Botswana government, for what reason I have no idea," he told Reuters.
"These allegations are not true, we do not torture illegal hunters we are trying to make people aware of the hunting laws in Botswana instead."
A group of the nomadic hunter-gatherer Bushmen are fighting a court battle with the government for the right to continue their traditional lifestyle in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where their ancestors roamed for thousands of years.
Hearings began last year but have been intermittent due in part to the Bushmen's lack of money to pay their legal team.
Botswana says the Bushmen, also known as San, need to be integrated into society to benefit from education, medical services and jobs, and have moved most of them into settlements just outside the Kalahari reserve.
Gakelebone said the Bushmen were rounded up at the Kaudwane resettlement camp outside the reserve three weeks ago and taken to a border crossing about 200 km (125 miles) from Gaborone.
The Bushmen are not allowed to hunt in the reserve, but some are granted licences to hunt outside.
Gakelebone said only two of the seven Bushmen had any meat with them when they were detained by reserve officials.
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30 Juin 2005 à 12:19 dans
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