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| Bushman boys, Namibia
© Mark Håkansson/Survival |
Two key diamond markets targeted
The rolling campaign of protests at the illegal eviction of Bushmen from the
Central Kalahari Game Reserve has spread to two of the most important countries
for the diamond industry – the USA and Switzerland.
In New York, a group of sympathisers have held a vigil outside Botswana's UN
High Commission. Their spokesman Tom Torma said, 'Having read so much
about Botswana's programme of forced assimilation of the Bushmen, we wanted to
express our outrage that this can still be happening in the 21st
Century.'
Meanwhile, in Switzerland supporters staged a protest in the centre of the
city of Lugano.
Survival International's Director, Stephen Corry, said today,
'Protests against the illegal evictions of the Bushmen, and the Botswana
government's efforts to stamp out their culture, have now spread to eight
countries around the world. More will inevitably follow unless the government
allows the Bushmen to return to the land of their ancestors, as so many of them
want.'
Click here to donate to Survival's Bushman campaign.
Click here to join Survival's letter writing campaign on behalf of Botswana's Bushmen.
