- Botswana is housing an upcoming meeting of Civicus, the international alliance of civil society organisations in more than 100 countries. While many international issues are on the meeting's agenda, the conflict between the Batswana government and the country's aboriginal population, the San people, is to be highlighted at the conference.
During its Gaborone conference later this month, Civicus plans to bring together the various parties that have been involved in the issue of the San people of Botswana - also called Bushmen or Basarwa.
The San people recently were evicted from their ancestral lands in the Central Kgalagadi (Kalahari) Game Reserve, a reserve originally set aside for the nomadic gatherers and hunters. The move has widely been set in context with a drive to search diamonds in the reserve, an allegation first pronounced by the UK-based group Survival International. Survival later has been termed "terrorists" by the Gaborone government.
- As of today, most of the major stakeholders including the government of Botswana and Survival have confirmed their attendance at the dialogue, Civicus said in a statement released today. The dialogue meeting is being scheduled for the 16 and 17 March in the Batswana capital.
The following week, from the 21 to 25 of March, Civicus says it will be holding its 5th World Assembly in Gaborone. With the theme "Acting Together for a Just World," the Assembly will feature plenaries and workshops that will involve hundreds of civil society representatives from more than seventy countries around the globe.
- Civicus, in partnership with the Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) plans to use the opportunity that the World Assembly can offer in bringing together a wide range of actors, to discuss the question of the rights of the indigenous people of Botswana who our Batswana colleagues refer to as the 'Basarwa', said Vic Sutton, Executive Director of Civicus.
- With Civicus acting as a facilitator and BOCONGO taking a lead role, we plan to convene a special platform prior to the assembly where different stakeholders actively involved in this issue will have an opportunity to present their views and concerns, Mr Sutton added.
The Civicus leader also said that in recent consultations among major stakeholders, which included the government of Botswana, San representatives, major organisations such as Ditshwanelo - a Batswana human rights group - BOCONGO and Survival, there seemed "to be a consensus that a dialogue is necessary."
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