BOTSWANA: Bushmen appeal for help

An appeal for help has been smuggled out by the final group of Bushmen still inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The 30-odd Bushmen wrote that they are continually "harassed and threatened by wildlife officials and scouts", who "pressure us to leave our homes". They said that "guards come every three weeks and threaten to kill us if we do not leave and move to their resettlement camps, which they built in order to force us out of the reserve, our home". Wildlife guards have prevented the Bushmen form hunting and gathering, undermined their water supply, and arrested other Bushmen who have attempted to bring food to their relatives. To read the letter visit < http://survival-A HREF="mailto:international.org/related_material.php?id=452"><international.org/related_material.php?id=452>.

From Green Left Weekly, June 28, 2006.

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From GLW issue 673