After a recent visit to Basarwa communities, European Parliament member Richard Howitt asked the body to review its funding to the Botswana government. Howitt, who serves on the European Union’s development committee, raised concerns that EU funds could be used for the forced resettlement of San communities from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Thousands of San have been relocated from the Reserve to government camps since 1997, and the few dozen who refused to leave have had their water supplies cut off. “The point of the question is that [EU] funding not be used to fund forced resettlement of the Kalahari Bushmen, it should be used to help them stay on their ancestral land,” said Howitt, adding that the Basarwa have put together plans for sustainable use of their traditional lands.
