Bushmen may hunt in reserve
2004-11-12 20:56
Gaborone - Botswana President Festus Mogae has told visiting British MPs that Bushmen are free to hunt in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
The government had previously banned all hunting in the reserve.
According to the Botswana Daily News, Mogae had told the visitors that the Bushmen "were allowed to hunt in the game reserves provided they used traditional hunting weapons, such as bows and arrows".
"Many Bushmen have been arrested and tortured for hunting in the reserve, where they have lived for thousands of years. The government has in recent years banned all hunting and gathering by Bushmen in the reserve, cut off their water supply, and prevented anyone else from bringing in food or water," Survival International (SI), a non-governmental organisation promoting aboriginal rights based in London, said reacting to the report on Friday.
Despite these restrictions, around 200 Bushmen had returned to the reserve.
The Bushmen are currently suing the Botswana government for the right to return to their homes in the reserve.
SI director Stephen Corry said there were three ways to look at what he called "this astonishing news".
The first was that Mogae was reversing policy and upholding Bushmen rights.
The second was that he was unaware of what the policy actually was, and the third was that he was presenting British MPs with a false picture of what was really going on.
"It's a sad day for Botswana if it's a case of either the second or third interpretations. If, on the other hand, he really is supporting his most down-trodden citizens, then it could be a new dawn for Botswana's Bushmen and the country could begin to shake off its terrible image as destroyer of the most vulnerable tribes in Africa," Corry said.
- SAPA