Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05GABORONE162
2005-02-02 12:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Gaborone
Cable title:  

UPDATE ON CKGR RELOCATION COURT CASE

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM BC SAN CKGR 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.


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C O N F I D E N T I A L GABORONE 000162 

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR AF/S DIFFILY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM BC SAN CKGR
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON CKGR RELOCATION COURT CASE

REF: GABORONE 21

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH HUGGINS FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D

C O N F I D E N T I A L GABORONE 000162

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR AF/S DIFFILY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM BC SAN CKGR
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON CKGR RELOCATION COURT CASE

REF: GABORONE 21

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH HUGGINS FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D


1. (U) Summary: Hearings in the court case involving the
First People of the Kalahari (FPK) vs. the Government of
Botswana got off to a slow start in mid-January. Meanwhile,
political and budgetary considerations have delayed proposals
to improve the Remote Area Development Program (RADP). The
Department of Wildlife and National Parks clarified the
statement in President Mogae's letter of November 26
regarding hunting within the Central Kalahari Game
Reserve (CKGR). A representative of the International
Finance Corporation, which owns a stake in a company
exploring for diamonds in the CKGR, asserted that there was
no need to relocate former residents out of the Reserve
for exploration purposes. End Summary.

--------------
HEARINGS RESUME WITH A SLOW START
--------------


2. (U) Hearings in the court case of First People of the
Kalahari (FPK) against the Government of Botswana (GOB)
resumed on January 17. On January 26, the court declared a
recess to allow State counsel and the judges to fully digest
the testimony of the applicants' final witness, South African
ecology expert Arthur Albertson. Albertson provided evidence
challenging the Government's claim that the presence of San
in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) damaged the
park's ecosystem. Sidney Pilane, lead counsel for the State,
will begin cross-examination of Albertson on February 2.

--------------
PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE RADP STILL ON HOLD
--------------


3. (U) Shortly after the 2002 relocations that ultimately
sparked this court case, the Botswana Institute of
Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) conducted an
assessment of the RADP for the Ministry of Local
Government. This study culminated in a report released
in December 2003. The report's recommendations focused
on expanding access to resources for Remote Area Dwellers
and enhancing their role in decision making. According
to a senior researcher at BIDPA, he and his colleagues
concluded that the GOB employed a top-down approach to
development, inadequately supported income generation

schemes, provided insufficient training for officers,
and neglected the adverse cultural impact of
the program. Although the GOB was cooperative in arranging
interviews with RADP officials and residents of RAD
settlements, for the BIDPA study, government officials
staunchly opposed certain findings, including the need
for "affirmative action" to help marginalized communities.
This resulted in a four-month stand off before a decision
at the political level broke the logjam in BIDPA's favor.


4. (U) When asked about the status of this review, the
Coordinator of the RADP, Ms. Maakwe, described BIDPA's report
as "very good" and expressed her intention to adopt it as a
blueprint for improving the program. Deep budget cuts,
however, had delayed any progress in this direction. Maakwe
bemoaned the negative effects of these budget cuts on target
communities but did not see any way to pursue significant
reforms in the absence of greater funding.

-------------- --
PILOT PROGRAM ON LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT STALLED
-------------- --


5. (C) A few months after BIDPA released its review, it
teamed up with the local UNDP office to conduct a pilot
project aimed at cultivating capacity within RAD communities
to participate in decision making that affects them. UNDP
and BIDPA hosted workshops for residents of RAD settlements,
RADP officers, and NGOs working with these groups in early

2004. As of January 2005, the UNDP had yet to receive a
response to its report on the pilot project submitted to
the Ministry of Local Government in August 2004. Despite
her proclaimed admiration for the research that stimulated
this effort, Maakwe was only vaguely aware that the pilot
program had taken place and had not heard that the Ministry
of Local Government had received any evaluation thereof
from UNDP.


6. (U) UNDP's Governance Officer echoed BIDPA's concerns
about how well RADP officers were equipped to do their jobs.
She told PolOff that RADP officers that participated in
this workshop indicated that they had received little or no
training. Some dispatched to these remote posts had been

advised only to provide in-kind assistance packages to
destitute community members if the latter sought help.
These observations were consistent with some complaints
expressed to PolOff by RADP officers in the field that
support from the Ministry of Local Government was not
adequate to meet the needs they encountered in RAD
settlements.

-------------- --------------
ELECTIONS DELAYED EXPANDING ACCESS TO INFORMATION
-------------- --------------


7. (C) UNDP's Governance Officer had proposed to the
Office of the President a third program to improve the
well-being of remote area dwellers (RADs) focusing on
increasing their access to information. She suggested a
plan to establish short-wave radio connectivity between
these settlements. This would allow the Government to more
efficiently disseminate information about HIV/AIDS and
various public programs in addition to facilitating direct
communication among RADs. The GOB reportedly told her that
it did not want to pursue any project involving access to
information during the run-up to the October 2004 elections.
She suspected that the national polls also had affected the
delay in the response to the pilot program to build
leadership capacity in RAD settlements.

--------------
LIMITED HUNTING WITHIN THE CKGR
--------------


8. (U) On November 26, President Mogae responded to a letter
written by eleven U.S. Senators on October 8, 2004.
Paragraph twenty of that reply noted that "Basarwa can
hunt inside the Game Reserve provided they hunt by
traditional means, i.e. hunting on foot using bows
and arrows." On January 27, PolOff met with Acting
Director for Wildlife and National Parks Mr. Isaac
Theophilus to clarify the relevant regulations.
According to Theophilus, residents of the CKGR can apply for
Special Game Licenses. According to the law, only those
primarily dependent on hunting for their subsistence should
receive these permits, which exempt them from the fees
associated with other hunting licenses. In practice, the GOB
issues them to RADs to supplement other forms of public
assistance. Theophilus said that residents of the CKGR are
"encouraged" to hunt by bow and arrow only. Residents of RAD
settlements outside the CKGR can hunt in designated areas,
using whatever means they choose, but may not hunt inside the
reserve. On a recent visit to New Xade, however, a wildlife
officer told PolOff that hunting zones near RAD settlements
in eastern Ghanzi contained little game to hunt.

--------------
ACCESS TO CKGR EASED?
--------------


9. (U) When asked why one could only obtain permits to enter
the CKGR from Gaborone, Theophilus said that Department of
Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) had changed that
requirement. His department had realized that this created
an excessive burden on applicants and decided that travelers
could go straight to the park gate, register and enter. In
an early December visit to Ghanzi District, however, a DWNP
official indicated to PolOff that permits from Gaborone were
required to enter the reserve.

-------------- --------------
FINAL CKGR LAND USE PLAN AFTER COURT CASE WINDS UP?
-------------- --------------


10. (U) According to Acting Director Theophilus, action on
the draft land use management plan for the CKGR has been
suspended pending the outcome of the FPK court case. He
confirmed that the current draft of the plan calls for two
community use zones, one near New Xade the other near
Kaudwane. Residents of these settlements would have the
opportunity to contract with private companies to operate
photo-safaris in these areas. He had no comment on reports
from New Xade that former Minister of Environment, Wildlife
and Tourism had advised residents to abandon expectations
for such a development.

--------------
IFC OMBUDSMAN VISIT TO BOTSWANA
--------------


11. (SBU) A representative of the Office of the Ombudsman at
the International Financial Corporation (IFC) visited
Botswana in mid January to investigate claims that Kalahari
Diamond Corporation, in which IFC owns a stake, violated IFC

rules by exploring for diamonds in the CKGR. In a January
17 meeting with PolOff, the IFC official indicated that,
based on his research, KDL had done an exemplary job of
consulting with potentially affected communities. Although
he had yet to visit the Reserve itself, he doubted whether
the Ombudsman's findings would uphold the complaint. As an
aside, he told PolOff that from IFC's perspective, there
was no need to relocate former residents of the CKGR
to explore for diamonds.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


12. (U) The Government of Botswana has yet to devise a
strategy to effectively coordinate its handling of the
CKGR relocation issue. While district councils experiment
with improvements to RADP activities in their respective
jurisdictions (reftel),contradictory information and
inconsistency between policy and practice persist at the
national level. It seems clear that relocation was not
tied to diamond exploration but was motivated by the GOB's
vision of Botswana as a modernizing African nation. Post
will continue to encourage efforts, such as the pilot
program to cultivate leadership capacity, to enable
Botswana's remote area dwellers to advocate for their
rights more effectively.
HUGGINS


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