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Ogiek and Watha among 100,000
New supporters for the Bushmen
* Number of Bushmen supporters
climbs to 200,000
* Petition will be handed in in
eight countries
Survival supporters around the
world are handing in a 100,000 signature petition to Botswana
embassies and consulates this week. The hand-in marks the second
anniversary of the forced relocation of hundreds of Gana and Gwi 'Bushmen'
from their ancestral land. One year ago Survival presented the
first 100,000 signatures to the Botswana government.
Amongst the supporters are a
delegation of Ogiek hunter-gatherers in Kenya. In a statement they
say, 'the heart of the Ogiek people goes out to our brothers and
sisters the Gana and Gwi Bushmen... Brothers and sisters: do not
let your persecutors make you forget who you are: no matter how
far away from it you have been taken, the land and life your
forefathers gave you belong to you. Be strong! You will see your
land again!'
Petitions will be handed in in the
USA (Washington, Los Angeles and New York), Belgium, Germany,
Japan, UK, Switzerland, Kenya and South Africa. The petition calls
on the government to allow the Gana and Gwi to return to their
ancestral land.
Stephen Corry, Director of Survival
said today, 'This unprecedented level of support shows just how
outraged international public opinion is about the Botswana
government's persecution of its indigenous people. Support for the
campaign keeps on growing, and will not end until the Bushmen are
back on their land.'
Photos and footage of the other
protests available. For
more information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or
email mr@survival-international.org
Ogiek and Watha delegetions in
front of the Botswana High Commission in Nairobi protested in
solidarity with the Gana and Gwi people against their eviciton
from their ancestral land by govern- mental greed and diamond
interests.
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19 January 2004
SOUTH AFRICA'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE CONDEMN BUSHMAN EVICTIONS
Two organisations representing some of South Africa's indigenous peoples have spoken out in support of the rights of the
Gana and Gwi Bushmen' of Botswana to return to their land.
The Northern Cape Khoisan Council said today, 'We support the campaign against De Beers and the Botswana Government,
to persuade the government to rescind their decision to evict the
Gwi, Gana and Bakgalagadi from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.....
You also have the support of about thirteen Khoisan organisations in
the whole of South Africa to protest against this blatant human
rights atrocity.'
The Northern Cape Khoisan Council is an alliance of first people organisations in the Northern Cape consisting of the
San, Nama, Korana, Griqua and Cape Khoi groups.
Motivation Community Development, another indigenous organisation,
added, 'Like our peoples, KhoiSan, Tswana, Sotho and other African
peoples of South Africa, we were dispossessed from our
lands by colonial forces. This dispossession resulted in the conditions we
live in today, so much poverty, depression, unemployment,
addictions, crime and violence and being unproductive......
Removal of the Gana, Gwi and Bakgalagadi Peoples from their land will do the
same to them as land dispossession did to us.... It makes no difference who does
the dispossessing.'
Indigenous peoples worldwide have expressed their solidarity with the
Gana and Gwi since they were evicted from their ancestral land in 2002. Representatives of the Innu in Canada, the Ogiek
in Kenya, the Yanomami in Brazil and the Aborigines in Australia have
strongly condemned the evictions.
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