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BOTSWANA: BUSHMEN'S
LAST STAND AS ARMED POLICE RAID RESERVE
12 September 2005
Gana and Gwi Bushmen
who have returned to their land were today ordered to leave within
ten days. Armed police and wildlife scouts are camped in the
Bushmen's reserve, and are threatening to shoot them dead.
The local District Commissioner went to the communities inside the
Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) today to deliver the
government's ultimatum.
All but thirty of the Bushmen in the reserve were evicted in 2002.
Others have since returned despite government opposition, so that
there are now 200-250 people living on their land. Hundreds more
in the resettlement camps are desperate to return.
The government's move comes in defiance of the ongoing court case
which is supposed to rule on whether the Bushmen have the right to
live in the reserve. News of the gun threats will embarrass
Botswana's President Festus Mogae and Foreign Minister Mompati
Merafhe as they leave for the UN in New York, where Mr Mogae is
expected to address the Assembly.
Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, 'The Botswana
government doesn't care about its own courts or the rule of law,
and least of all about its indigenous peoples. All minorities
there must now feel under threat.'
'We will ensure the international community doesn't forget the
Bushmen and what they are suffering. The outside world won't turn
a blind eye to their destruction - which is now tantamount to
genocide. Tourists to Botswana and those who buy diamonds from De
Beers are now complicit in this, the greatest of crimes.'
SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
http://survival-international.org/news.php?id=1014
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