GABERONE, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Some 200 members of the main opposition Botswana National Front marched on Saturday in protest against the government's forced relocation of San Bushmen from the vast Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

Botswana, the world's top diamond producer by value, has moved hundreds of Bushmen from their traditional hunting grounds in the reserve, saying they must be relocated to benefit from education, water and health services.

Saturday's march came two weeks before Botswana's high court rules on a legal challenge by the Bushmen against the relocations.

None of the Bushmen, who have lived in southern Africa as hunter-gatherers for thousands of years, were in evidence among marchers in the protest, which the BNF said was held to show solidarity with them.

"We are just trying to get the message through to the government that its approach to the whole issue is ill-conceived. Basarwa (Bushmen), just like any other people in Botswana, have the right to live where they want," BNF spokesman Moeti Mhwasa told Reuters.

President Festus Mogae's government has denied charges by rights groups that it is relocating the Bushmen to free up land for potential diamond mining and that it has tortured some of those evicted.

AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink