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Botswana approves $3bn mine as Bushman water case gets underway

January 18, 2011
Botswana’s government has green-lighted a massive $3bn mine in the Central
Kalahari Game Reserve – in the middle of the Kalahari Bushmen’s appeal
against the Botswana authorities’ refusal to allow them [2]access to water
there.
Links:
1. http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6859
2. http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/bushmen/water#main

Gem Diamonds announced today that its application to open a huge diamond
mine near the Bushman community of Gope in the reserve has been approved.
The company claims to have secured the consent of [3]the Bushmen on whose
lands the mine will be located.
Links:
3. http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/bushmen

[4]Survival International, however, has repeatedly told Gem Diamonds that
the Bushmen are entitled to independent advice on what the likely impact of
the mine will be. No such advice has been given, and many Bushmen whose
lands will be affected still live outside the reserve in resettlement camps
after their 2002 eviction, as the government refuses to allow them to hunt
or even access water in the reserve.
Links:
4. http://www.survivalinternational.org

Survival and the Bushmen have always maintained that the Bushmen were
evicted to make way for [5]diamond mining. The government long denied this,
claiming the diamond deposit at Gope was ‘sub-economic’.
Links:
5. http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/bushmen/diamonds#main

A Bushman who wanted to remain anonymous said today, ‘Why does the
government choose to issue the mining licence today, while [6]our appeal for
water is underway? It seems like this is their answer to our case. They are
saying to us that even if we win our case and get water, the diamond mine
will go ahead.
Links:
6. http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6832

‘This is final proof that the government's argument that they don't want us
to live in the CKGR to protect the wildlife is a lie. Who do they think will
damage the wildlife? The people who have lived there for thousands of years,
or a $3billion mine with roads, power lines, thousands of tons of waste and
hundreds of people going to and fro?’

Survival Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Gem Diamonds’ claim that the
Bushmen have given their consent to the mine would be laughable, if it
weren't tragic. How can people who are denied water to force them out of the
reserve possibly be in a position to give their free and informed consent?
Particularly when no-one apart from Gem Diamonds and the government has told
them what impact this massive mine might have on them? Survival said for
years that the government wanted to open up the reserve for diamond mining.
The government denied it – but we have sadly been proven right.’

To read this story online: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6859

ENDS

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