Trial of Bushman activists postponed

The court case in which 23 Gana and Gwi Bushmen were due to appear this week has been postponed until next February.

The 23, including four activists from the human rights organization First People of the Kalahari, face up to one year in prison for 'unlawful assembly'.

In September 2005 the group attempted to enter the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to bring food and water to their relatives who were starving inside the reserve. Soldiers and police attacked the unarmed Bushmen with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The trial will now take place after the landmark ruling – due on December 13 – on the Bushmen's right to return to their homes inside the reserve and to hunt and gather there.