As the country prepares for its presidential elections in October, government has agreed to meet two members of Lesbian, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) in court on their demand to have section 164 of the Penal Code, which criminalises homosexual conduct, declared unconstitutional. Prisca Mogapi, a transman and Caine Youngman who is gay, through their representative Uyapo Ndadi, served the Registry of Society department with a statutory notice last month.

Botswana’s government sent trucks full of police and wildlife scouts into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) to confiscate goats from Bushmen who have returned to their ancestral homes. The Bushmen, whose goats had been confiscated in 2002 when they were unlawfully evicted from the reserve, only received their livestock back in recent weeks.

Two members of the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana Organisation (LEGABIBO) have slapped government with a notice to sue for discrimination. Prisca Mogapi, a lesbian employed at Botswana Network Of Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) and Caine Youngman, a gay member of LEGABIBO have indicated their intention to fight it out with government in court over section 164 of the penal code, which criminalises same sex relationships.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, visited Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana this month. He met with Bushmen who are living inside the reserve without access to water. Professor Anaya visited several Bushman communities in Botswana, including the resettlement camps Kaudwane and New Xade, where the government dumped several thousand Bushmen after forcibly evicting them from their homes inside the reserve. He also visited two Bushman communities inside the reserve, Gugamma and Metsiamenong.

A ban on civil servants in Botswana wearing tight or revealing clothes to work is "sexist", a women's group says. The new directive said they could be disciplined for turning up in tight skirts or trousers, sleeveless tops, or clothes that showed cleavages or backs. The BBC's Letlhogile Lucas says women are particularly angered by a ban on headscarves and elaborate hairstyles.

Cabinet ministers were among the dignitaries who witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony of Daheng Botswana Textile Industry in Phakalane on Monday morning. The project is funded by two Chinese companies, Daheng Holdings Group and Touch International Holdings Group, for US$52 million. The Phakalane Industrial Park will be the first phase of the project, which will major in textiles and clothing products.

Since the Bushmen were forced off their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in 2002, the Botswana government has granted 112 mining licenses for mining companies to explore in the reserve. 16 licenses have been awarded for uranium exploration and 40 for coal. It is just over six years since the government evicted more than 600 Bushmen from the reserve, although it has always denied any connection between mining and the evictions.

Botswana's government has warned that it may have to cut or completely withdraw its HIV/AIDS funding, despite the rising number of people needing treatment, as the global economic crisis takes a toll on the vitally important diamond-mining sector. The government is the main financier of the national HIV/AIDS response, contributing up to 80 percent of the budget, with donors making up the remainder. But the global economic slump has led to significant declines in the sale of diamonds, Botswana's most important revenue source.

Survival’s campaign targeting Graff Diamonds over its involvement in a controversial diamond mine planned on the land of Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana has stepped up a gear. Thirty protestors gathered yesterday outside Graff’s flagship London store holding placards saying ‘Boycott Graff’ and ‘Botswana diamonds: Bushmen despair’.

Botswana's troubled diamond industry could find solace in the Chinese market where prices and demand are expected to remain relatively stable, Chinese ambassador to Botswana Ding Xiaowen has said.

Chinese ambassador to Botswana Ding Xiaowen has assured the country that China’s stable market could be the saving grace for Botswana’s under pressure diamond industry. The representative of the world’s third largest economy, has urged the Botswanan government to turn to the Chinese diamond market.

The Botswana government has given its approval to a controversial diamond mine on the land of the Kalahari Bushmen – on the condition that the mining company Gem Diamonds does not provide the Bushmen with water. The government has, however, reserved the right to use water boreholes drilled by Gem for wildlife.

Two years after the historic court victory that affirmed the Kalahari Bushmen’s right to live and hunt on their land, Botswana’s President Ian Khama has told the Bushmen that their hunting way of life is an ‘archaic fantasy’. Botswana’s High Court affirmed on 13 December 2006 that the government’s eviction of the Bushmen was ‘unlawful and unconstitutional’, and that they have the right to live on their ancestral land inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

Botswana's President Ian Khama has said that the number of HIV-positive people accessing antiretroviral therapy in the country is expected to nearly double over the next eight years, Mmegi/AllAfrica.com reports. If current HIV and Aids rates continue, the number of HIV-positive people accessing the drugs could increase to 220 600, up from an estimated 145 000 currently, according to Khama.

The Kalahari Bushmen have appealed to the Pope to support them in their struggle to return to their land, as the Vatican established diplomatic relations with Botswana earlier this month. A Bushman spokesman said, ‘We beg the Pope to help, to pray for us so that the government changes its attitude towards us and respects our rights as indigenous peoples of this land.’

The first five years of a large-scale antiretroviral programme have resulted in excellent, sustained rates of virologic suppression, CD4 cell count increases, and improved clinical outcomes among adults in Botswana, according to a study reported in AIDS. The Botswana Antiretroviral Treatment Program (commonly known as MASA, from the Setswana word for "new dawn") began providing free access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in January 2002 through Princess Marina Hospital in the capital city of Gaborone.

Kalahari Bushmen who were evicted from their land by the government of Botswana’s former President Festus Mogae have condemned African billionaire Mo Ibrahim and his Foundation for giving Mogae their ‘Achievement In Africa Leadership Award’. The Award will be given to Mogae at a ceremony in Alexandria, Egypt, on Saturday 15 November.

Following pressure from Survival International, De Beers says it has stopped operations on the land of the Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana because those it consulted, including Bushmen living inside the reserve, did not agree with its plan to explore for diamonds near a Bushman community.

Survival International has criticised the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for awarding its 'Achievement in African Leadership' prize to Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana who oversaw the eviction of the Kalahari Bushmen from their land. Festus Mogae's government evicted the Bushmen from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2002, and banned them from hunting and gathering.

Mr Mogae, who stepped down in April after two terms in office, said he was honoured and humbled by the award. Botswana is one of Africa’s most stable countries - it has never had a coup and has had regular multi-party elections since independence in 1966. Announcing the prize, ex-UN head Kofi Annan also commended Mr Mogae for his action to tackle the Aids pandemic.