De Beers Opens First U.S. Store Amid Protests Over Eviction of Bushmen in Botswana

Today De Beers diamonds opens its first retail store in the United States in partnership with LV luxury goods. The diamond giant was founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888 and contributed to the formation of the apartheid state in South Africa through its early segregation policies. The company has operations all over the world and produces 40% of the world supply of gem diamonds out of its mines in Africa.

The sale of diamonds frequently fuels conflict in Angola, Sierra Leone, the Congo and elsewhere. So-called conflict diamonds are regulated under the 2003 Kimberly Process, which requires member countries and industry leaders to certify that shipments of rough diamonds are not connected to any ongoing conflicts. Human rights activists say the Kimberly Process is a first step but that working conditions in diamonds mines are still very bad and that there are loopholes in the U.S. Clean Diamond Trade Act.

De Beers says it is in compliance with the Kimberly Process but now the corporation is coming under fire for prospecting the ancestral homeland of San Bushmen in Botswana. The government readied the area for mining in 2002 by pushing out the San, who are the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa and live in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Diamond mining is the mainstay of the Botswanan economy, constituting nearly 80 percent of the country's exports. Botswana is hailed as among the most stable and prosperous Sub-Saharan African nations and the government credits improved infrastructure to diamond revenues. The national diamond company Debswana quotes President Festus Mogae on its web site as saying, "The partnership between De Beers and Botswana has been likened to a marriage. I sometimes wonder whether a better analogy might not be that of Siamese twins."

Despite the rosy outlook, about half of the population remains below the poverty level in Botswana and human rights groups condemn the treatment of the bushmen. Just this week there were reports that government officials detained and beat three bushmen when they were hunting. The Ecologist magazine quotes President Mogae explaining the government decision to relocate the Bushmen. He said, "If the bushmen want to survive they must change otherwise, like the Dodo, they will perish." Following their eviction, the bushmen created an organization called First People of the Kalahari and took the state to court arguing that the government's acted illegally when it denied basic services to Bushmen who would not leave the Reserve. Nearly 250 bushmen have filed affidavits saying that the government is conducting diamond mining already in the Reserve and a judge will hear their case on August second. The state attorney did not deny the existence of diamond prospecting. He told the court that "If found, such natural resources will be exploited, and we are not apologetic about the future prospecting in any game reserve."

De Beers held a celebrity opening party for its Fifth Avenue retail store last night. While supporters of the San bushmen picketed across the street, luminaries like actress Lindsay Lohan were feted by the diamond giant.

* Miriam Ross, spokesperson for Survival International ( http://www.survival-international.org/ ), which works with indigenous people to defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures.
* Jumanda Gakelebone, member of First People of the Kalahari.
* James Suzman, Professor of Anthropology at Cambridge University, an expert on the bushman of Botswana, and a consultant to De Beers on community affairs.

The diamond trade is central to the operations of the Bostawan economy and the government will brook no criticism of its economic juggernaut. Recently an Australian scholar at the University of Botswana was deported after the president accused him of communicating with Survival International president Stephen Corry and calling Botswana's diamonds "blood diamonds."

* Kenneth Good, professor of political science specializing in democratization. He has written critically on the succession-based presidency in Botswana and the dependence of the Botswanan economy on the diamond trade.

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