SOS 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.