BOTSWANA: Bushmen win court victory

On October 28, Botswana's High Court ruled that the government must allow Amogolang Segootsane and his family to return to their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and must return his goats to him and allow him to bring water into the reserve. In September, the reserve was closed by the government and all the Bushmen's goats were removed on the grounds that they were diseased, a claim that an international panel of vets dismissed as "spurious". Dozens of other Bushmen have been evicted at gunpoint from the reserve in recent weeks. According to Survival International director Stephen Corry, the court victory is "great news. We're very pleased that the rights of the Segootsane family have been upheld by the court, although it remains to be seen whether the government will abide by the court's ruling. Now the government surely must also allow all the other evicted Bushmen to return home." For more information visit <http://survival-international.org>.

From Green Left Weekly, November 9, 2005.

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From GLW issue 648