Botswana said Thursday it will not accept financial assistance from international organizations working to help hunter-gatherer tribes continue living in a massive game reserve. Over the past few weeks, the government has stepped up efforts to relocate the Basarwa tribes of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a 52,000-square-kilometer (20,000-square-mile) semidesert region in the middle of the country.

The government of Botswana has threatened to cut off water and other essential services to the Basarwa (Khoisan) still living in the central Kalahari Game Reserve(CKGR), the BBC reports. The government, since 1996, has been trying to persuade the Basarwa
remaining in the reserve to move to relocation camps hundreds of
kilometres away. The authorities' initial argument was that their removal
would allow better wildlife conservation. That has since changed to stress that better services can be provided to the estimated 600-700 Basarwa in the CKGR if they move out of the reserve.

Botswana is turning to Brazil to reinforce its strategy against HIV/AIDS, demonstrating that South-South cooperation is more than a slogan. The Brazilian response to the HIV/AIDS scourge has impressed experts, who have urged other countries to copy it. Botswana, with one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection, is doing just that. More than one third of its adults are infected, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, while the rate in Brazil is less than 1 per cent.

The Botswana government's prudent management of the diamond-dependent economy will be challenged by the global economic slowdown, a growing HIV/AIDS burden, and the regional impact of the Zimbabwe crisis, the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in its latest forecast.

Public servants should work hard to restore confidence in members of the public that they have the ability to deliver service. Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Daniel Kwelagobe expressed this feeling when opening the 59th Annual General Conference of Botswana Civil Servants Association (BCSA) in Mochudi.

On Friday 30 November 2001, the Botswana government published the contents of a draft Mass Media Communications Bill in the government gazette. MISA Botswana reports that local press groups, worried that the media bill proposed by the government would restrict free and independent reporting, have called for a public meeting to air their concerns and hear the public's perspective. The meeting will take place on 13 December.

Botswana Social Democratic Party (BSDP) has accused the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) of practising nepotism, corruption and favouritism. BSDP says under the BDP government, jobs are offered on partisan lines with key positions in the civil service going to BDP favourites.

The Director of Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Tymon Katlholo, has said that a well informed media could play a crucial role in exposing corruption and fraudulent practices in government, private sector and civil society among other areas.

The Botswana government is going ahead with a constitutional amendment following a controversial referendum in which only five percent of registered voters bothered to cast their ballot.

North East District Council secretary, Itireleng Phatshwane says government, councils, corporations and other organisations have lost huge amounts of money due to improper tendering procedures and practices.

The Botswana government says HIV/Aids patients occupy 60% of wards in the country's hospitals, and that the numbers are rising, despite public awareness of the disease.

The Botswana government has launched its door-to-door Aids awareness and education campaign, but there are some snags.

The Botswana government says it is committed to the development of technical and vocational education and training, increasing access as well as improving its quality.

Panellists at a discussion on media coverage of non-governmental issues and the role of the media in development said there is need for the media and NGOs to work together for a common purpose.

In what is regarded as a victory for media freedom and freedom of expression, the Botswana High Court this week declared a government ban on advertising in two newspapers unconstitutional.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said southern Africa remains the most war-torn region in the world, at a meeting in Gaborone aimed at building regional consensus on the controversial refugee question.

Botswana's Vice President Seretse Khama Ian Khama has been awarded the “Statesmanship Award of the Endangered Wildlife Trust”. The award is presented to “a statesperson who has made an exceptional contribution to conservation”.

Botswana's first lady, Barbara Mogae, is discouraging the indiscriminate cutting of trees as part of a clean up campaign. She says she wants to encourage a spirit of volunteerism and environmental responsibility.

Of a 12-million pula regional integration grant signed by USAID in the Botswana's capital Gaborone last week, 6-million pula will help strengthen regional economies through non-governmental organisations.

A statement by Survival International is set to expose Botswana's racist treatment of its Bushman peoples at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism (UNWCAR) this weekend. The statement, by the worldwide organisation supporting tribal peoples, will call for an independent investigation into ongoing human rights abuses against the Bushmen.