BOTSWANA: Evicted Bushmen killed by mystery disease

Survival International reported on March 22 that at least 15 Bushmen in the New Xade resettlement camp have died suddenly of unknown causes since the start of the year. A further three are in a critical condition. Gaseitsiwe Gaorapelwe, who was tortured by wildlife guards in 2000 for hunting, died very suddenly after spots appeared all over his body. Gaorapelwe was evicted from his community of Molapo in February 2002, but returned despite police harassment. Last October he was forcibly evicted again by armed police. A statement by the Bushmen's organisation the First People of the Kalahari noted that "Since the middle of January even more people have been dying [in New Xade] than is usual since our evictions from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). They have been dying quickly with vomiting, and difficulties to breathe. The authorities know about this but so far we are not aware that any doctor has been to New Xade to find out what is wrong ... This shows that what the government says about New Xade being a place to develop the Bushmen is not the truth." In early March, British Baroness Jenny Tonge told the British House of Lords that the government of Botswana had evicted the Bushmen for their own good and that it had benefited them. For more information visit <http://www.survival-international.org>.

From Green Left Weekly, March 29, 2006.

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From GLW issue 662