The Bushmen of Botswana are having such a rough time of it that human rights group Survival International has called it genocide, writes David Gleason SPARE a thought for the Bushmen (San, Khwe, Basarwa) of Botswana. They’re having a rough time of it, so rough that Survival International, a human rights group, has called it genocide.About 100,000 Bushmen are spread across Southern Africa.They have populated the region for more than 20,000 years, and if there’s any talk about returning land to its original owners, they should be first in line.They are ignored, of course, because their numbers are pitiful and, anyway, they are regarded as rejects, forgotten people who allowed the world to roll past and straight over them.Many Bushmen were located in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), which covers 53,000km² in Botswana, established in 1961 to protect the Bushmen’s traditional territory and the natural fauna and flora. Fifty years later and they’re being hounded off the land set ...
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