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| Bushman women, Namibia
© Mark Håkansson/Survival |
Renewed persecution of hunters is leading to dependency on
handouts
Three Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana have been
arrested and charged with 'unlawful hunting'. The three were hunting near the
resettlement centre of New Xade, where they have been forced to live since the
government evicted them from their reserve in 2002.
The arrests are the latest in a rising tide of persecution of Gana and Gwi
Bushman hunters. The Bushmen were banned from hunting and gathering in the
reserve after the evictions, and since then those hunting around the
resettlement centres have faced harassment, arrest and heavy fines or
imprisonment.
'I feel angry because I am a hunter and I'm not allowed to hunt. I
have children but I don't know how to feed them,' says one man. In the
resettlement centres, the Bushmen are dependent on government rations for the
destitute.
Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, 'Before their land was
stolen from them, the Bushmen were a self-sufficient, independent people, living
mainly from hunting and gathering. The right to hunt is fundamental to their
future survival. They must be allowed to return to their land and hunt freely
once more without fear of arrest.'
For further information, please contact Miriam Ross at Survival International
on (020) 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
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