Diamonds aren't a Bushman's best friend in Botswana

27 November 2015 - 17:58 By TMG Digital

Botswana’s Bushmen are steeped in poverty even though the second largest diamond was found near their ancestral homeland. Survival International (SI)‚ an activist group that defends the rights of tribal peoples‚ said in a statement on Friday that despite ever increasing profits for multinational diamond mining operations in the country‚ especially near their homeland in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve‚ Botswana’s Bushmen communities continue to suffer.The discovery of the second largest diamond in history last week was widely publicised. SI said: “Botswana has been keen to publicize its considerable diamond-derived wealth to the world’s media‚ but coverage has so far ignored the ongoing violations of the Bushmen’s human rights.”According to SI‚ “The Bushmen were evicted from their land just over a decade ago. In a landmark court 2006 case they officially won the right to return to their homes in the reserve. Despite the ruling‚ the majority of the tribespeople have been prevented from living there.“For those who are there‚ life has been made nearly impossible. Government ministers and mining corporation Gem Diamonds have separately promised to create several new boreholes for water in the territory‚ but most Bushmen still have no access to clean drinking water.”The group said a nationwide hunting ban implemented in 2014 had made life for the Bushmen even more difficult.“They face arrest‚ beatings and torture at the hands of paramilitary police and state-funded wildlife scouts‚ and are accused of “poaching” because they hunt to feed their families. This is all in spite of the 2006 ruling recognizing their right to hunt in the reserve.”The Bushmen’s lawyer‚ Gordon Bennett has been barred from the country and is unable to effectively represent them.Survival director Stephen Corry said: “The media has been so dazzled by this find that Botswana has easily hidden the real victims of its diamond fever. Bushmen’s rights are still violated by a government that thinks itself too powerful to obey..

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