US State Department alleges �human rights concerns�
Mpho Mokwape | Friday October 10, 2014 16:50
The government was widely criticised both at national and international level for the forced removal of Basarwa from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).
According to the latest report released by Survival International (SI), the US Department has joined others including the High Court in Botswana, the United Nations, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Motswana political activist and former Robben Island prisoner, Michael Dingake, and BBC’s John Simpson in condemning the country’s discrimination against Basarwa.
This comes after SI, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, reported that it has uncovered hundreds of cases of beatings, arrests and abuses suffered by Basarwa at the hands of wildlife officers and the police.
The SI report titled, ‘They Have Killed Me: The Persecution of Botswana’s Bushmen 1992 – 2014’, is reported to have detailed over 200 cases of violent abuse recorded between 1992 and 2014.
According to the report, there are Basarwa who died after being tortured; a child was shot in the stomach after his father refused police entry to his hut without a warrant; and a Mosarwa was buried alive for killing an antelope.
The report further stated that the torture of Basarwa, who were illegally evicted from CKGR in the name of ‘conservation’, was due to the resistance of some tribesmen.
“They are now accused of ‘poaching’ because they hunt their food, face arrests, beatings, torture and death at the hands of wildlife officers and paramilitary police,” stated the report.
Xoroxloo Duxee died of dehydration in 2005. She was one of several Basarwa who managed to remain in the reserve, as resistance to the eviction. However, the government cut off access to water for residents who refused to leave their homes, stated the report.
The report also mentioned one, Mogolodi Moeti, as just one of the hundreds of Basarwa who suffered abuse by wildlife officers and police.
Moeti is quoted in the report saying, “They told me that even if they kill me no charges would be laid against them because what they were doing to me was an order from the government.”
SI and its research on the lives of Basarwa came after they were illegally evicted in early 2005 by government.
The move was widely met with resistance from Basarwa and was widely criticised by SI and other organisations described by government as a ‘conservation measure’ and a move to improve their lives.
However, SI Director, Stephen Corry, was quoted saying that the crimes committed against Basarwa in the name of ‘conservation’ was a cause for concern as no conservation organisation has stood up for Basarwa.
“Basarwa families risk starvation to remain on their ancestral land, while the government encourages fee-paying big game hunters. NGO giant, Conservation International, welcomes President Ian Khama to its board. Prince William’s anti-poaching coalition, United for Wildlife, invites him as an honoured guest, and even asks him to host its next meeting, yet he is directly responsible for trying to finish off the last hunting Bushmen in Africa.
Survival is fighting these abuses. It’s time the secrets of the conservation industry were exposed”, he said.