Protests against Botswana President over bushmen issue

Loud protests at an anti-poaching conference in London February 13 highlighted the devastating impact of a hunting ban on Africa's last hunting Bushmen in Botswana. Ian Khama, President of Botswana, was reported to be attending alongside Prince Charles and Prince William. Protesters outside the 'London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade 2014', chanted slogans and carried placards reading 'Botswana: Bushmen hunters are not poachers'.

Botswana is persecuting the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in the name of wildlife conservation by stopping them from hunting game. But the Bushmen pose no threat to the wildlife of the CKGR, alongside which they have lived sustainably for centuries. The Botswana government's hypocrisy was recently exposed by revelations that large parts of the CKGR have been leased out for fracking, and a mine by Gem Diamonds is projected to start operations inside the CKGR in October 2014.

A 2006 high court ruling confirmed the Bushmen's right to live and hunt in the CKGR, but the government continues to intimidate, torture and arrest Bushmen for hunting. The majority of Bushmen are forced to apply for restrictive permits to enter their ancestral land in the CKGR - a policy which has been likened to the hated Pass Laws under apartheid South Africa.

The Bushmen are prevented from hunting game on their ancestral land in the name of conservation, which a judge likened to condemning the tribe to death by starvation. A high court judge involved in the 2006 court case said that the government's refusal to allow the Bushmen to hunt 'was tantamount to condemning the [Bushmen] to death by starvation.'

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201402171076.html