Botswana accepts court order
2006-12-15 12:52
Gabarone - The government on Thursday accepted a high court order to allow Botswana's last hunter-gatherers to return to their ancestral lands in a game reserve, but attached tough conditions.
The court on Wednesday said that the Basarwa, often known as bushmen, were wrongly forced off the land in 2002.
In a statement on Thursday, the country's attorney general said only the 189 people who filed the lawsuit would be given automatic right of return.
The attorney general also said that they would not be allowed to take livestock with them and they would only be allowed to take limited amounts of water and materials for temporary housing into the harsh terrain.
The Basarwa claimed that up to 2 000 people wanted to return and said they needed horses and donkeys for transport and livestock to survive in the tough desert the size of Switzerland.
The Basarwa had accused the government of evicting them, often at gunpoint, in 2002 to exploit the diamond and mineral potential of a reserve the size of Switzerland.
The government denied this, saying the Basarwa agreed to move as part of efforts to protect the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, that it had already owned the mineral rights, and that the Basarwa received compensation for their land.
- AP