Survival Calls For Boycott Of Botswana Tourism
Survival International, the human rights organization for tribal peoples, today called for tourists to boycott Botswana
until the government ends a brutal campaign of persecution against Kalahari Bushmen.
The call coincides with World Tourism Day, September 27, which Botswana is using to promote its ‘cultural diversity and
welcoming people’.
But its government has waged a thirteen-year campaign to evict [3]the Bushmen, the country’s first inhabitants, from
their ancestral lands inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Many have been evicted several times from their homes in
the reserve to grim relocation camps.
Although the Bushmen [4]won a legal victory to be allowed to return home, the government is trying to starve them out of
the reserve. It has banned [5]their access to water (they are not allowed to use their former well, which has been
disabled), and food (they are not allowed to hunt).
The government’s actions [6]have been criticized by the UN – its expert found the Bushmen face ‘harsh and dangerous
conditions due to a lack of access to water’ – and the African Union’s Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
And while the Bushmen are denied food and water, the government is promoting tourism to the reserve – [7]Wilderness
Safaris has opened a luxury tourist lodge with swimming pool – and is likely to grant Gem Diamonds [8]permission to mine
for diamonds at one of the Bushmen’s communities.
Botswana’s president, Ian Khama, who sits on the board of Conservation International, as well as having close personal
links to Wilderness Safaris, has described the Bushmen’s way of life as [9]‘an archaic fantasy’. Meanwhile, the CEO of
Wilderness Safaris, Andy Payne, has said that ‘any Bushman who wants a glass of water can have one’.
Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘It is obvious that Botswana’s president has never forgiven the Bushmen
for returning to their ancestral lands and is now ensuring they are harassed on a repeated and ongoing basis. Meanwhile,
he continues to sit on the board of Conservation International, and the country receives plaudits for its conservation
and tourism industries. Tourists should decide if they really want to support the destruction of Africa’s hunting
Bushmen.’
To read this story online: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6519
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