US embassy cable - 05GABORONE162

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 Relocation 
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. 
 
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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. 
 
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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. 
 
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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. 
 
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COMMENT 
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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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