Basarwa leader Roy Sesana has appealed to Prince William to acknowledge that the Basarwa are hunters, not poachers. Prince William is scheduled to visit New York and Washington D.C., where he will launch his “United for Wildlife” initiative in the United States ÔÇô a consortium of conservation organizations such as Conservation International and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) aiming to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. According to a statement from Survival International, Roy Sesana’s letter is addressed to Prince William who will be accompanied by his wife during his visit to the USA. The letter was delivered ahead of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s much publicized visit to the USA.
Part of Sesana’s letter to Prince William reads, “”For a long time now the government in our country says we are poachers because we hunt to feed our families on our land. It tries to stop us from hunting, even though our High Court said that this is a death sentence for us. The wildlife scouts are arresting and beating up many Bushman hunters.” Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, is instrumental in assisting Sesana reach out to the Duke of Cambridge. The organization has taken upon itself to play a conduit role between Sesana and the British Royals.
“… Today we Basarwa are crying for our homes and our wild animals. I am asking you, please tell [Botswana’s] President Khama and conservationists that when we hunt on our ancestral lands to feed our families, we are not poachers. We have lived with the wild animals for generations and we will always care for them, for our children and our children’s children”, Sesana calls out to Prince William. Survival International has urged United for Wildlife to publicly acknowledge tribal peoples’ rights to live on their traditional land and hunt for food. For his part, Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said by refusing to recognize that tribal hunters are not poachers, United for Wildlife is perpetuating a long history of human rights abuses carried out in the name of ‘conservation.’
