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| Bushman boys, Namibia
© Mark Håkansson/Survival |
BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, is exploring the Gana and Gwi Bushmen's
reserve without their consent. In reaction to a complaint to the World
Bank, the company's Botswana subsidiary Sekaka Diamonds* has erected
signs in the reserve in English and Setswana, explaining that low
flying planes will start surveying for diamonds. Yet the Bushmen in the
reserve read neither English nor Setswana.
The BHP Billiton venture in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is funded
by the private arm of the World Bank, the IFC (International Finance
Corporation), to the tune of US$2 million. The company's failure to
consult the Gana and Gwi, who have been evicted from the reserve,
violates the World Bank's own policy on indigenous peoples.
Local Bushman organization First People of the Kalahari wrote to the
World Bank ombudsman in November 2004, complaining that their right to
live on their ancestral land was being undermined' by the BHP Billiton
project. The Bushmen are opposed to any development on their land until
they are allowed to return and live freely there.
Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, The Bushmen know not to
expect justice from the diamond companies or the Botswana government,
and Survival knows that the World Bank won't help indigenous peoples
who are victims of its so-called development schemes – whatever its
policies might be. But the sheer cynicism of this is extraordinary. A
diamond company sticking up unreadable signs in a Bushman community in
order to fulfil 'local consultation'! It would be comic, if it wasn't
so tragic.'
*Sekaka Diamonds is also known as Kalahari Diamonds Limited.
Photos of the sign available. For more information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
