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| Bushman woman, CKGR, Botswana 2004
© Stephen Corry/Survival |
Botswana's President this week handed out blankets and sweets to Bushmen in a
relocation centre. His action comes in the middle of a court case in which the
Bushmen are suing his government for the right to return to their ancestral land
in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).
The hand-out is a repeat of a previous visit to another relocation centre, in
which food and blankets were distributed shortly before the court case was due
to begin. That event aroused concern around the world.
One Bushman declared today, 'These clothes are not our land. I will
take these clothes and still go back to my land.'
Another Bushman told Survival, 'The reason the President was here was
to bribe the Bushmen, so that they forget about the CKGR issue and their
land.'
Stephen Corry, director of Survival said today, 'There will never be
justice for Bushmen in Botswana if the head of state thinks it is fair to visit
another eviction site, only two days after the court has adjourned, to give
handouts to the Bushmen in an attempt to persuade them not to return to their
lands. The President is treating the Bushmen like children, trying to seduce
them with sweets and clothes. Again, the government's actions simply reinforce
the way it looks down on the Bushmen and their chosen way of life. It's as if
the government assumes the Bushmen are already the beggars it is trying to turn
them into.'
For further information, please contact Miriam Ross at Survival International
on: +44 20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
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