Botswana bushmen win back rights to Kalahari water

BBC News, 27 January 2011

An appeals court in Botswana has ruled that indigenous bushmen can drill wells for water in the Kalahari desert.

Rights groups say the government has tried to
make the bushmen's lifestyle impossible

The court said the bushmen could use an existing well on their traditional land in the Kalahari Game Reserve, and excavate new wells.

The decision overturned a ruling made last July that took away the bushmen's rights to drill for water.

The new ruling also criticised the government's treatment of the bushmen as "degrading".

BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson says the court judgement is a remarkable victory for the bushmen.

The Botswana bushmen have been embroiled in a long-running legal battle to return to their traditional land and way of life.

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Diamonds have been discovered in the Kalahari Game Reserve, although the government insists that was not the reason it ordered the bushmen to be resettled outside the reserve.

The Kalahari has been the bushmen's home for tens of thousands of years.

In 2006 the bushmen won the right to return and to hunt without permits, but many of them still live outside the reserve.

Water tankers, which used to serve the community, no longer enter the reserve.

The UK-based rights group Survival International, which has supported the bushmen, hailed the latest court decision.

Director Stephen Corry said it was "a victory for human rights and the rule of law throughout Botswana".

He urged President Seretse Khama Ian Khama to signal whether or not the government's position had shifted in the light of the ruling.

Analysis

John Simpson, World Affairs Editor, BBC News

• The appeal court judgement is a remarkable victory for the Bushmen.
  
  Not only has the court upheld their right to water in the Kalahari Desert, but it has criticised the government's treatment of the bushmen as "degrading".
  
  Supporters of the bushmen inside and outside Botswana are greeting the court of appeal's judgement as a victory for the rule of law.
  
  Kalahari bushmen in 'remarkable' legal victory