EISA launches its regional Election observer Mission for the upcoming General Elections due to be held in Botswana on 30 October 2004. The 2004 Botswana Elections will be the third electoral process where the assessment of the election will be based on the Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in the SADC Region (PEMMO) recently adopted by the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries (SADC ECF) and EISA.

A major hospital in Botswana is struggling to cope with the mounting pressure of staff and resource shortages, the HIV/AIDS crisis and a high rate of road accidents. The Princess Marina hospital was initially meant to be a referral facility for districts south of the capital, Gaborone, but has evolved into a national referral centre due to the lack of specialised units in the rest of the country.

A group of nongovernmental organizations on Monday called on the Botswana Democratic Party to remove a campaign billboard that features a prominent AIDS advocate and links voting for the BDP with receiving antiretroviral drugs at no cost, Agence France-Presse reports. The billboard includes a picture of Helen Ditsebe-Mhone - who in 1992 became the first person in the country to publicly announce her HIV-positive status and founded the Coping Center for People Living with HIV/AIDS - and includes the words, "Free HIV/AIDS drugs. Vote BDP."

Mr. Methaetsile Leepile was awarded the prestigious MISA Press Freedom Award for 2004 for his involvement in the establishment of the first vernacular Setswana newspaper in Botswana. His achievement was celebrated for its contribution to the promotion of indigenous language systems in the media in the sub region. At the same time, MISA paid tribute to Mr. Leepile's illustrious career in media development in the region - a career which spans over more than 20 years.

The International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU) has reported that workers taking part in an illegal strike at Botswana's largest mining firm, Debswana, are being evicted from company-owned homes. It is warning that the evictions could have serious social consequences on the stability of the region and that replacement mine workers have not been properly trained, reportedly leading to two deaths. Between 2,500 and 3,000 workers have been involved in the strike.

On 17 August 2004, Minister of Land and Housing Margaret Nasha instructed the producers of "The Eye" programme to re-record a segment of the show in order to exclude opposition party member Dumelang Saleshando, who is seeking election as a member of parliament. In an interview with MISA-Botswana, Saleshando said he, Nasha, who belongs to the ruling party, and Robert Molefhabangwe, of the Botswana National Front, were interviewed on 16 August for a "The Eye" show that was to be aired on Botswana Television (BTV) the following day. After the interview, Saleshando said the minister allegedly gave instructions for the programme to be re-recorded, saying that Saleshando was "too political in his deliberations".

It is a beauty pageant with a twist. The contestants are young and pretty. They wear evening gowns and blow kisses. And they are infected with HIV. A pageant to combat stereotypes of Aids patients as skeletal wheezers with blotchy skin is an eye-catching idea. The question is does it succeed in eroding stigma?

Botswana's antiretroviral drug program lacks the capacity to meet the country's "ever worsening, perpetual, insatiable demand," Ernest Darkoh, operations manager for the country's drug program, said at a U.N. fact-finding conference on Monday, Reuters reports. "We do not have the staff to deal with it ... [t]he critically ill and dying clog the system," Darkoh said.

A San Bushman who defied a state order to move out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve told the Botswana High Court on Tuesday that the land had been given to him by God. The Botswana High Court is hearing a case brought by 243 San Bushmen challenging their relocation from the game reserve, one of the world's largest sanctuaries and an area which has been their home for thousands of years.

A last minute intervention by Festus Mogae, the Botswana President, has averted a strike by the country's diamond mineworkers. On Friday last week, 6,000 mineworkers threatened to down tools after union leadership and management of Botswana's two biggest diamond mines failed to reach an agreement on a pay increase. If the action had gone ahead, it was projected that it would cost the country about R40 million a day.

Botswana Health Minister Lesego Motsumi last Tuesday at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, said that the country will meet by next year its target of distributing antiretroviral drugs at no cost to about 50% of those who need them - about 50,000 HIV -positive people, Reuters reports. Currently, 17,400 people are receiving antiretroviral therapy through the country's public health service; an additional 6,700 receive the medications from the private sector.

The San people, also known as bushmen, have challenged the government of Botswana over their expulsion from ancestral lands in what could be a landmark case for indigenous rights in Africa. The San accuse the government of illegally expelling them from ancestral land by cutting off water supplies and denying hunting permits. Their lawyers say that these measures are unconstitutional, and want water supplies to be restored to the reserve and hunting permits granted. The government's case is that the San left the reserve voluntarily to avail themselves of schools and clinics closer to towns and cities.

More than 200 bushmen from the Kalahari desert are taking the Botswana government to court over their forced eviction from ancestral land. They are challenging a 2002 decision to resettle them outside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which was their home for tens of thousands of years.

On June 8 2004, photographer Thari Leepile from the Midweek Sun newspaper was assaulted by Elizabeth Surtee and her son, Edward Mzwinila, who are facing trial for alleged armed robbery.

Standing atop a sand dune, Klaas Matthuis can see more dunes almost surrounding Struizendam, his village in Botswana on the border with South Africa. They are bare of vegetation except the one he stands on, which has large clumps of grass, trees and shrubs. Mr. Matthuis, vice-chairperson of a new community resource management committee, is showing visitors from Kenya, Mali, and the University of Oslo in Norway the dune that has been stabilized by fencing out goats and cattle and planting various indigenous species.

Hospitality and Tourism employees in the North West District have appealed for government's immediate intervention against abuse and maltreatment from their employers. At Sedie Hotel, in Maun, employees accused management of racism and that one of the directors, a foreigner, has a habit of insulting them. Maun Lodge staff also singled out one of the managing directors for insulting them and harbouring racist tendencies.

Trade unions last week threatened to punish the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government during the October general elections, for failing to address their grievances. The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) made the warning at the Labour Day celebrations at Selebe-Phikwe town hall. Chairman of the Botswana Mining Workers Union in Phikwe Golekanye Mogende said their cries to the government for improved working conditions in both civil and private sectors would definitely be felt in October.

When a four-meter-long Nile crocodile lost all fear of humans and began lunging at visitors to one of the lodges in Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, wildlife officials considered the usual practice of lethal control. The concerted efforts of Earthwatch principal investigator Dr. Alison Leslie and her team allowed them to capture the animal and transport it to a crocodile farm for captive breeding. Conflict between humans and Nile crocodiles is a growing problem in Africa, as human populations continue to increase and encroach on wildlife habitat. Conflicts have recently been reported from 17 African countries within the range of the crocodiles, and Leslie receives reports of "problem" animals about once a month in the Okavango Delta region of Botswana.

Botswana's ministry of health has announced it will vaccinate an estimated 200,000 children in a national polio immunisation programme to be rolled out in the next two weeks. Dr Themba Moeti, the deputy director of health services, told a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in the capital, Gaborone, on Tuesday that the first phase would run between 10 and 14 May, with a second round from 14 to 18 June.

UNDP, in cooperation with Botswana's National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), has held a series of leadership development workshops to strengthen the response to HIV/AIDS in one of the world's hardest hit countries. About 130 leaders from many sectors attended the three-day sessions. They came from government departments, including the police, health and social service agencies, the private sector and civil society organisations.