San accuse police of torture

Two San rights organisations have alleged that harassment and torture of the Basarwa at the hands of wildlife officials has intensified in recent months. London-based NGO, Survival International (SI) and Botswana's First People of the Kalahari (FPK), have claimed that eight Bushmen arrested for poaching inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) earlier this month were tortured by wildlife wardens. Government spokesman Clifford Maribe confirmed the arrests, but said the claims of abuse were untrue. "Eight people were arrested in the reserve for poaching, any other claims are totally false". "The men were tied to a pole, and kicked and beaten," claimed FPK's Jumanda Gakelebone. He added that the officials had initially arrested four men, as the remaining four managed to run away. "They [the wildlife officials] tracked the other four men down after a day and arrested them." SI's Miriam Ross claimed that torture of the Basarwa had intensified in recent months. The San community is contesting their relocation from the CKGR in a legal challenge mounted in 2002. The San were relocated to the New Xade and Kaudwane settlements outside the reserve as a result of controversial government plans to set aside the CKGR for wildlife and tourism development. Rights groups have claimed that the community was forcibly removed from their ancestral land to make way for diamond explorations in the CKGR. Most of the members of the San community live in extreme poverty. "We do not have any food to eat in the settlements, so many don't have much choice but to go inside the reserve to kill animals like antelope and eland," said Gakelebone. Poaching is illegal in the reserve. Ditshwanelo, a human rights NGO in Botswana said it was investigating reports about the alleged torture. Last month, the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination at its 68th session, urged the Botswana government to respect the close cultural ties between the San to their ancestral land, including economic activities, such as hunting.