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In recent years, African diamonds have lost much of their lustre. The ruthless hunt for so-called blood diamonds delivered little more than brutal civil wars and misery upon that continent, no more so than in Liberia, which is still recovering from years of conflict. But when Hillary Clinton touched down there on her African tour this week, she cited another nation, Botswana, as a role model for dealing with the precious stones. As Ginny Stein reports, a massive diamond deposit appears to be a godsend for the once sleepy country. REPORTER: Ginny Stein For over 40 years in an arid,...

Newly-crowned Miss Botswana, Sumaiyah Marope, has caused an uproar after declaring same-sex relationships to be an “unnatural act.” In a scenario that mirrors the recent controversy at the Miss USA competition, Marope was asked by judge DJ Fresh if she would advocate gay marriage. “It is unnatural act,” Marope proclaimed. “God made us men and women [... ] It is only proper for men to have relationships with women as God created us.” The crowd erupted in a loud roar of approval of her comments. Unlike Miss California, Marope went on to win the competition, and was awarded a US...

A pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Botswana. A wildlife cameraman took pictures of the calf when he spotted it among a herd of about 80 elephants in the Okavango Delta. Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants.

HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was flown to neighbouring Botswana for medical tests on Saturday after being seriously injured in a car crash that killed his wife, his party said. "I do not know when he will be back, he will undergo a check-up, but he is out of danger now," a spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said. Hours earlier, Tsvangirai -- who suffered neck and head injuries in Friday's crash -- was seen by an AFP reporter walking out of the Avenues Clinic in Harare accompanied by his top allies. The crash happened...

Israeli diamond merchants active in West Africa, responding to the report in Haaretz on Monday that defense officials are worried Hezbollah terrorists will target Israeli communities there, said the Lebanese movement enjoyed the strong support of locals. "The big problem for Israelis in West Africa is that there are countries whose diamond industry is controled by Lebanese locals, a majority of whom openly support Hezbollah," a source in the Israeli diamond business said Monday. "In effect, these are countries which are known as Hezbollah states," he added. Israeli companies that deal in diamonds, agriculture, communications and security operate mainly in...

Botswana has deployed units of its army along its border with Zimbabwe as "a precaution" against trouble in its crisis-torn neighbour spilling into the country, sources close to the government have said. Relations between the two countries have become strained by the influx in recent years of tens of thousands of refugees from Zimbabwe who have crossed the border illegally, fleeing the violence of Robert Mugabe's supporters. Botswana, one of the most prosperous and successful countries in Africa, built an electrified fence along its 300-mile border, largely desert scrub, with Zimbabwe five years ago and tightened controls at its border...

GABORONE, Botswana - Botswana's president steps down Tuesday, handing over power in the kind of smooth transition for which the country is known — one that contrasts sharply with the political turmoil in neighboring Zimbabwe. On a continent where leaders are all too often accused of holding on long past their mandate, Festus Mogae, 69, is giving up power before the end of his second term. That allows his vice president, Seretse Ian Khama, a former army commander and the son of Botswana first's president, to run as an incumbent in elections next year. "I retire a proud citizen," Mogae...

Botswana: Senator Jefferson Graces Nchindo Charge SheetMmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone) 10 January 2008 Posted to the web 10 January 2008 Tshireletso Motlogelwa The embattled United States Senator, William Jefferson has turned up in the charge sheet brought by the prosecution against former Debswana chief executive, Louis Nchindo and other senior members of the company. Jefferson, who late last year was served with a 95 page long indictment by the US department of justice on a wide range of criminal charges relating to his various trips to Africa, visited Botswana a few years ago on two occasions. Late last year, the media...

A startling discovery of 70,000-year-old artifacts and a python's head carved of stone appears to represent the first known human rituals. Scientists had thought human intelligence had not evolved the capacity to perform group rituals until perhaps 40,000 years ago. But inside a cave in remote hills in Kalahari Desert of Botswana, archeologists found the stone snake [image] that was carved long ago. It is as tall as a man and 20 feet long.

MOLEPOLOLE, Botswana, April 28, 2006 – "Joy in our hearts," sang the small group of Bana Ba Keletso preschool children during the dedication ceremonies for the expansion of the Bana Ba Keletso Orphan Care Center here April 22. U.S. European Command, through the Office of Defense Cooperation's humanitarian assistance program, provided more than $188,000 for the construction expansion of an administration building and multipurpose hall complete with a food-preparation facility. Through the partnering efforts of the Rotary Club of Gaborone and the Department of Defense, more than 400 at-risk orphan children from the surrounding Molepolole area are nurtured by the...

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- A professor at the University of Washington Medical School who moved to Botswana to help alleviate a shortage of doctors there, was killed when a crocodile dragged him from a dugout canoe, his family and colleagues said. Richard K. Root, 68, was on a wildlife tour of the Limpopo River in remote northeastern Botswana with his wife, Rita O'Boyle, on Sunday when it happened. The couple had been visiting a clinic in the area. A nationally known expert in infectious disease and the former chief of medicine at Harborview Medical Center here, Root went to the...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) -- Five members of the Botswana Defense Force, or BDF, visited Ramstein last week to learn about the Air Force’s warehouse management procedures and operations. The 435th Logistics Readiness Squadron hosted the visit, touring the group through the base’s inbound cargo sections, receiving section, storage and issue element, hazardous materials section, aircraft parts store, storage and issue area, flight service center, and outbound cargo element. During the team’s visit to the hazardous materials section, Tech. Sgt. Kirk Vore, assistant noncommissioned officer in charge of HAZMAT, briefed the team on everything from procedures and initiatives to...

Inspired by India's success at turning itself into the king of global outsourcing, countries all over the world are trying to perform the same feat on their often-struggling economies. Many send delegations to India to meet with experts and visit its hundreds of call centers, into-tech support operations, and back-office processing facilities. They also tap into expertise at the World Bank or hire consultants such as Accenture (NYSE: ACN - news) , McKinsey, or market researcher Gartner (NYSE: IT - news) . Armed with support from ambitious politicians, many countries then roll out packages of economic reforms to sweeten their...

THE Bushmen of the Kalahari — among Africa’s last indigenous peoples — are on the verge of losing their ancestral homeland after the Government of Botswana stepped up a campaign to force them into squalid resettlement camps. The Government has sent heavily armed wildlife guards into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve — an area promised to the Bushmen “in perpetuity”. Some 200 to 250 Gana and Gwi Bushmen live in the area, having drifted back after previous evictions. The Government banned all outsiders, including journalists, from the area. It said a disease had been discovered in the Bushmen’s goats, which...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. President Bush says increased U.S.-African trade is helping to promote democracy and opportunity across the African continent. Mr. Bush spoke in Washington Monday after meeting with the presidents of Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia and Niger. He praised the five men as democrats who have taken advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The 2000 law gives African nations greater access to the U.S. market if they show respect for rule of law and human rights. Mr. Bush said the five presidents are doing just that - and noted that African...

Now that Africa is getting an influx of cash to pay off debts, President Bush is pushing for an influx of democracy on the troubled continent. The United States and others of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations agreed Saturday to eliminate more than $40 billion of debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest nations as part of a British-led effort to lift Africa out of poverty. Bush was to follow up on the agreement by playing host Monday to leaders of five countries that held democratic elections last year. "At a time when freedom is on the...

Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone) April 27, 2005 Posted to the web April 27, 2005 Tuduetso Setsiba Francistown In response to the alert by the Ministry of Health on the outbreak of Marburg, Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital has designated an isolation ward for the admission of those suspected to have the virus. When addressing the full council meeting yesterday, Nyangabgwe superintendent, Dr Loeto Mazhani said they have identified two fully contained rooms for admitting those with Marburg. "The necessary supplies have been secured and all clinical departments including accident and emergency have been sensitised on the disease." However, Mazhani raised fears that the...

After crossing a sandy river bed and scrambling through dense undergrowth, the young, breathless Zimbabwean reached the final obstacle on his journey. Clive Ncube halted before a 12ft fence, topped with barbed wire, snaking through the bush country lining the frontier between Botswana and Zimbabwe. He placed his foot in the wire mesh and vaulted over. "If the Botswanan soldiers catch you crossing here, they can beat you," said 30-year-old Mr Ncube. "But the police won't beat you, they will take you to the police station and deport you back to Zimbabwe." Yesterday, Mr Ncube joined the tens of thousands...

GABORONE (Reuters) - There is a catwalk banquet, hordes of journalists, traditional dancing and time-consuming hair styling -- but at Botswana's beauty pageant every competitor must be HIV (news - web sites) positive. At a palm tree-studded resort and conference center in the capital Gaborone, 12 girls are competing this weekend for the title "Miss HIV Stigma Free." "We are saying here we are, we are HIV positive and it doesn't mean it's the end of the line," 33 year old reigning Miss HIV Kgalalelo Ntsepe told Reuters in her cluttered one room cottage, where she displays trophies of her...

Contest in AIDS-ravaged Botswana aims to fight stigma. Botswana - A Botswana beauty pageant crowned 32-year-old Cynthia Leshomo “Miss HIV” on Sunday in a contest aimed at fighting the stigma of the killer disease that has infected more than a third of the population. The twelve contestants — aged 21 to 35 and coached by Miss Botswana 2004 — strutted on a catwalk in front of almost 500 people at an exclusive hotel resort in the capital Gaborone. They said they wanted to show there was life after an HIV diagnosis.

Development: Africa is a horrible mess. Sadly, most of its troubles are self-inflicted. In no nation is this better illustrated than in once-rich Zimbabwe.Everywhere one looks in Africa these days, one sees death, poverty, disease and misery. A raft of random headlines from the region gives you some idea of the African tragedy:"Villagers: Nigeria Troops Kill 15 in Raid." "Rwandan Former Finance Minister Sentenced To Life For Genocide." "Darfur Talks Resume, Rebels Say Killing Goes On." "U.N. Says Hundreds Of Thousands Could Die In Sudan."You get the picture — pretty awful. And those headlines come from just one day.How bad...

The morgue in Francistown, Botswana's second-largest city, has been filling up with unclaimed corpses. In January to September this dusty border town buried 36 Zimbabweans who died far from their families, many in pauper's graves. Some died in accidents, others of HIV/ Aids. Dizzy Sebeo, deputy town clerk, tells me the burials have set back the city's modest budget by 16,530 pula ($3,500) so far this year. The municipality has also been splashing out on fuel and per diems for city council members deporting illegals back to Zimbabwe. Botswanans tend to be laid-back people, but Zimbabwe's worsening political-economic crisis, which...

BOTSWANA Mob Justice for Hijack Suspect from Botswana Gazette on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Article ID: D148759 A mob which formed when a police patrol cornered an alleged hijack suspect in Broadhurst last week, beat the man so badly that he is unable to walk. The man, Batlene Dagwi Pije, was on the Police's "wanted" list, allegedly linked to a number of criminal activities. Last Thursday the Police spotted the suspect, who had been on the run since he escaped from Prison four years ago, in a car along the Nelson Mandela Road. They gave chase and cornered him in...

White farmers are taking courses in survival after hundreds of murders LAURA DE JONGE admits that she does not like guns. But screwing up her face in anticipation of the recoil from her pistol the 15-year-old schoolgirl knows she must come to terms with her demons. “My parents wanted me to come on this course,” she said. “We have guns at home. But you need to know what you’re doing. There are so many attacks on white farmers these days, you have to be prepared for the worst.” Gathered on a remote farm in Limpopo, close to the Botswana-Zimbabwe border,...

Anglican Communion: an imminent parting of the ways? by Margaret Rodgers Will the Anglican Communion see an imminent parting of the ways? British newspapers have, on more than one occasion in the last few weeks, predicted that the worldwide Anglican Communion is moving closer to a break-up. The Telegraph (London) said in early March that Anglicanism was edging ‘closer to disintegration’. This came in the context of their report of the Canadian General Synod announcement that their General Synod, to meet in Ontario next month, would debate a motion that affirmed there was no bar to Canadian dioceses authorising the...

Botswana has distanced itself from a recent statement issued by South Africa on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) claiming that it was not party to the decision to keep Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth. Botswana President Festus Mogae's statement this week said Botswana was "not party to the statement issued by a number of SADC member states on December 9". The statement on "the Continuation of the Suspension of Zimbabwe from the Councils of the Commonwealth" said SADC states in the Commonwealth strongly disagreed with the decision. But Botswana said it stood by the Commonwealth decision and...

Botswana's Anglican Church Leaders Denounce Gay Bishop African Church Information Service December 8, 2003 Posted to the web December 8, 2003 Rodrick Mukumbira, Gaborone The Anglican Church in Botswana has joined a growing list of African Anglican Provinces that have refused to recognise the consecration of Rev V Gene Robinson as Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the United States, because of his sexual orientation. Robinson went into history books last month when he got consecrated as the first openly gay bishop. Bishop Theophilus Naledi of Botswana, has said that his diocese does not recognise the consecration of...

<p>BLANTYRE, Malawi  — Five men suspected of running charities that funneled money to Al Qaeda have been arrested in Malawi and were to be deported from the southern African nation, intelligence officials said Monday.</p> <p>The men, all foreigners, were arrested Sunday night in the southern city of Blantyre in a joint operation involving the CIA and Malawi's National Intelligence Bureau, the intelligence officials said.</p>

GABORONE, Botswana - Donning both shimmering evening gowns and traditional Botswana costumes of animal-skin skirts, porcupine quills adorning their hair, 14 women competed in a beauty pageant for HIV positive women and their relatives. Some 38 percent of Botswana's people are HIV positive, the highest infection rate in the world. Infected people are often ostracized, and the organizers of Saturday's Miss HIV Stigma-Free pageant said they hoped the contest would show the disease does not have to prevent women from being vibrant and beautiful. Smiling widely, blowing kisses, and singing songs in the local language of Tswana, the women also...

My fellow FReeper, if you aren't informed about the elephant incident, you need to be. How will people think you're informed if you don't find this? I checked this morning and didn't see it here in the forum. I checked this afternoon, and nothing. Not in 'search' or in the side bar. We must stay cutting edge when it comes to hold-muh-beer moments such as this. I am very proud of the way GW reacted when he encountered the elephant incident. He had no 'party boy' wit. He is too straight laced a guy. So is his wife. While many...

July 11, 2003 -- President Bush got an eyeful of two elephants he'll never forget yesterday at an African game preserve when the pachyderms put on an X-rated performance. Bush, wife Laura and daughter Barbara had just arrived on the scene when Shaka, a 13-year-old male, decided to mount 13-year-old Thandi in what one game warden called "a reproductive attempt." Reporters at Botswana's Mokolodi Nature Preserve convulsed into giggles as the president smiled sheepishly and threw his cap over his face to block the sight of the antics of the giant beasts that symbolize his Republican Party. Barbara threw her...

<p>GABORONE, Botswana &#8212; President Bush yesterday toured the world's most AIDS-ravaged nation, vowing to help fight the disease even as his administration acknowledged cuts in funding.</p> <p>"People are dying in record numbers because of HIV/AIDS," the president said during a joint press conference with Botswanan President Festus Mogae. "We cry for the orphan. We care for the mom who is alone. We are concerned about the plight and therefore will respond as generously as we can."</p>

<p>GABORONE, Botswana &#8212; It was supposed to be a priceless photo-op, showcasing the first family marveling at African wildlife on a pristine game preserve. It turned into a sexually awkward moment of elephantine proportions.</p> <p>President Bush and first lady Laura Bush took daughter Barbara, 21, on a tour of the Mokolodi Nature Reserve in Botswana yesterday.</p>

Front row seats ... Bush family's African safari THESE naughty elephants showed a total lack of wildlife reserve in front of President George Bush and wife Laura. They were on safari with daughters Jenna and Barbara in a 4x4 when the frisky beasts started bonking. Heat stroke ... Bush and daughter Barbara The Bush family were visiting Mokolodi Nature Reserve, Botswana, during the President’s five-nation African tour.Looks like these animals found a visit from the world’s most powerful man a surefire way to tickle their ivories.

Bush Will Help Botswana in AIDS Fight 13 minutes ago By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer GABORONE, Botswana - President Bush (news - web sites) pledged to the nation with the world's highest AIDS (news - web sites) infection rate that it will have a strong partner in his administration in fighting the disease. "You will not face this enemy alone," he said Thursday. AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: President Bush Bush's remarks were greeted with chants of "Pula! Pula!," which means "all good things" in Botswana. But even as he was delivering the pledge, his $15 billion, five-year AIDS...

GABORONE, July 10 (Reuters) - The scrubby plains of Mokolodi Nature Reserve on the fringes of the Kalahari Desert looked a lot like Crawford, Texas, to President George W. Bush on Thursday -- except for the mating elephants. From the back of a yellow pick-up truck, Bush also saw rhinos, warthogs and two cheetahs pacing about in fenced enclosures during a 90-minute tour -- the White House has been careful not to call it a safari -- of the park. His convoy cruised past a fenced enclosure where two cheetahs paced about restlessly but he did not stop. The big...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pleading for patience, President Bush said the United States will "have to remain tough" in Iraq despite attacks on U.S. soldiers that killed at least two more Americans on Thursday. Bush spoke in Gaborone, Botswana, amid a debate at home about erroneous evidence that the administration cited as part of its justification for the invasion of Iraq. A group of arms control experts accused the administration of misrepresenting intelligence information to justify the war. Bush, responding to concern about the rising casualty toll, said, "There's no question we have a security issue in Iraq, and we've just...

The Middle East is no longer the only region where U.S. policy is driven by oil and terrorism It is too easy to cast President Bush's Africa tour this week as little more than a PR exercise. The President will be dispensing gifts on his five-day sweep through Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria, — financial aid, money to fight AIDS and trade agreements to support good governance — that may help soften his Administration's negative international image. He may even be poised to commit troops to Liberia to help prevent yet another catastrophic African fratricide, a substantial expansion...

PRESIDENT George Bush's trip to five African states Senegal, SA, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria the first by a Republican incumbent, would probably not be taking place if September 11 2001 had not happened. The attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon "taught the US", according to the National Security Strategy of September last year, "that weak states can pose as great a danger to our national interests as strong states". This may explain why Bush, more than any other US president, has elevated Africa as a foreign policy issue, not only in terms of rhetoric and photo opportunities but...

Black Network Praises President for Proactive Role in Africa; Bush Trip to Africa Highlights President's Concern for Region 7/3/03 4:25:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: David W. Almasi for Project 21, 202-371-1400 x106 WASHINGTON, July 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- President George W. Bush begins a five-day visit to the African continent on July 7. Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 are proud of the President's hands-on approach to fighting terrorism and famine and preserving human dignity in Africa. "(America) is fully engaged in the broad, concerted effort to help Africans find peace, to fight disease, to build...

Thursday, 15 August, 2002, 16:10 GMT 17:10 UKBotswana Bushman fights for survival President Mogae has said Bushmen are 'stone age creatures' John Simpson BBC World Affairs Editor In Botswana the Bushmen, or San, face destruction as a separate ethnic group. The only concession most San made to the 21st century was wearing clothes President Festus Mogae once described them as 'Stone Age creatures' for whom there was no place in the modern world, and the Bostwana Government is chasing them off their traditional hunting-lands. Diamonds, the curse of modern Africa, have been discovered there. But when I travelled to the...

Botswana battles against 'extinction' As delegates meet in Spain, the world's worst-hit country tries a new initiative against the epidemic Liz McGregor in GaboroneMonday July 8, 2002The Guardian If there is anywhere in the world where a model for the treatment of HIV and Aids is needed, it is Botswana. This landlocked country in southern Africa has the highest incidence of the condition, almost 40% of its adult population being infected. The average life expectancy has just fallen below 40 years for the first time since 1950. The desperate statistics require a radical response. Yesterday, as 15,000 delegates gathered in...