Monday, September 5, 2011

Botswana Bushmen drink from reopened borehole




Botswana -- Survival International says Botswana's Bushmen are drinking water from a borehole in the Kalahari desert for the first time in nine years.

It is a significant victory against the government that once evicted them from their ancestral lands.

The government capped the well at Mothomelo in 2002 to help force the tribe out of an area rich in diamonds.

In 2006 a court ruled the eviction illegal. But few Bushmen returned because the only water available was in handmade sand depressions.

Only in January did a court rule that the Bushmen have a fundamental right to water.

Survival International said Monday the Mothomelo well was re-drilled and a solar pump installed by Vox United charity working with Gem Diamonds, which mines in the Bushmen's lands.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/05/3885874/botswana-bushmen-drink-from-reopened.html#ixzz1X7Nxmp9n

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.