Botswana country profile

Overview

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• Facts
• Leaders
• Media

The advocacy group Survival International says Bushmen have been forced from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve since the discovery of diamonds there in the 1980s. And although they won a legal battle to go back in 2006, Survival says the government has been hindering their return.

AT-A-GLANCE Politics: Controversy surrounds the forced relocation of San Bushmen from their traditional hunting grounds. The ruling party has won all 10 elections since independence in 1966. Economy: Recent economic growth has been high by African standards. The government sees diversification out of diamonds as a priority International: Botswana plays an active role in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) economic grouping and has supplied troops for intervention in other parts of Africa Timeline

''Unless they can return to their ancestral lands, their unique societies and way of life will be destroyed, and many of them will die,'' says Survival, which has urged a boycott of Botswanan diamonds.

In the late 1800s Britain formed the protectorate of Bechuanaland, preventing territorial encroachment of Boers from the Transvaal or German expansion from South West Africa. In 1966 Bechuanaland became independent as Botswana.

Botswana was a haven for refugees and anti-apartheid activists from South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, but had to tread carefully because of its economic dependence on the white-ruled neighbour, and because of South Africa's military might.

More recently, the country has seen an influx of illegal immigrants seeking respite from the economic crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Botswana, which once had the world's highest rate of HIV-Aids infection, has one of Africa's most-advanced treatment programmes. Anti-retroviral drugs are readily available.

However, the UN says more than one in three adults in Botswana are infected with HIV or have developed Aids. The disease has orphaned many thousands of children and has dramatically cut life expectancy.

Botswana is trying to reduce its economic dependence on diamonds.

The government has moved to boost local business and employment by encouraging more value to be added to diamonds locally.

It launched its own diamond trading company - Diamond Trading Company of Botswana - in a joint venture with diamond giant De Beers.

"What we are embarking on is nothing less than one of the largest transfers of skills and commercial activity to Africa ever seen," said De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer. "The diamond industry's centre of gravity is shifting and tonight we see it shifting here."

Safari-based tourism - tightly-controlled and often upmarket - is an important source of income.

Facts

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Leaders

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President: Seretse Khama Ian Khama

Seretse Khama Ian Khama - the son of Sir Seretse Khama, Botswana's first post-independent leader - took over as president in April 2008.

Seretse Khama Ian Khama

He was the chosen successor of Festus Mogae, who stepped down at the end of his second term, after a decade at the helm.

He secured a new five-year term in October 2009 after his governing Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) party swept to victory in a parliamentary election.

To select a president, the winning party needs to win 29 of the 57 parliamentary seats. And in the 2009 polls the BDP - in power since independence in 1966 - won 45 of the 57 constituencies. The main opposition party, the Botswana National Front, won 6 constituencies and its splinter party the Botswana Congress Party captured 4.

Ian Khama, graduate of Sandhurst officer training college in Britain, was commander of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) before becoming vice president in 1998.

He became chairman of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in 2003.

Critics describe him as authoritarian while supporters say he is decisive and efficient.

His no-nonsense approach has made him popular abroad as he has broken ranks with regional leaders' timid approach to join international criticism of democratic abuses by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.

A call for the president to be elected directly by the people was rejected by parliament in 2008. Some critics have warned that the country was becoming a dynasty and that democracy was under threat.

Media

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Botswana has a long tradition of lively and unimpeded public debate, although opposition leaders have claimed that the government limits their ability to broadcast freely on the radio.

The constitution provides for freedom of expression and the government generally respects this right.

State-run television arrived relatively late with the launch of Botswana Television (BTV) in 2000. Officials stressed BTV would not be a government mouthpiece. Satellite pay TV is available.

Radio is an important medium. Press circulation is mostly limited to urban areas.

There were around 120,000 internet users by September 2009 (Internetworldstats.com).

The press

• Daily News - government-owned
• Botswana Guardian - weekly
• Botswana Gazette - weekly
• Mmegi/The Reporter - private daily
• Sunday Standard - weekly
• The Midweek Sun - weekly
• The Voice - weekly
  
• Television
  
• Botswana TV - state-run
• Gaborone Television - owned by GBC (Gaborone Broadcasting Company) - private, commercial

Radio

• Radio Botswana - state-run, programmes in English and Setswana, also operates commercial FM station Radio Botswana 2 (RB2)
• Yarona FM - private
• Gabz FM - private
• Duma FM - private

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