August 9 is observed as International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. The idea of “indigenous peoples” or “indigenous rights” is not widely accepted in Africa. Yet, according to the UN, the indigenous are amongst the most marginalised people on the continent. Yet, there are instances where indigenous peoples are succeeding in their claim to full inclusion in their societies.

The San, the indigenous people of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, won a major victory in December 2006, at the end of the longest and most expensive court proceeding in the country’s history. The High Court ruled that the state had wrongfully evicted them from a reserve four years earlier and that they could return home. Civil society activists around the world hailed the ruling as a historic precedent for the rights of indigenous people everywhere.

The court ruled that the 189 applicants in the case and their children may return to the reserve. But some activists, such as members of the First Peoples of the Kalahari, contend that the ruling should cover all 50,000 San in the country. But the government of Botswana maintains that other San who wish to return may do so only if they apply for and obtain permits from the state.

Their claim

Some communities claim indigenous status in Africa today on the grounds that their ancestors resisted the influence of the massive waves of migration of Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists who migrated from western to southern Africa beginning around 1000 BC.

While some were subsumed by those migrations, others maintained their distinct linguistic, cultural and social characteristics, largely as communities of hunters, gatherers and herders.

Later, Arab language and culture spread across northern and eastern Africa. And finally, a number of European countries colonised the continent, bringing their own influences. Those colonial governments often favoured the dominant, food-producing populations they found in their new colonies and marginalised the “aboriginal” peoples, as some historians refer to the indigenous people.

Mr Nigel Crawhall, director of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC), says the argument for recognising indigenous rights does not rest on historical precedence.

During colonial rule, agricultural peoples had easier – if still very limited –  access to education, health care and other social services that were almost completely denied to indigenous communities. When colonialism ended, it was these educated elites that were able to take over the institutions of political and social power.

Extermination

At the bottom of the colonial hierarchy were nomadic hunters and gatherers. They often withdrew into less hospitable environments, such as deep forests and deserts. In the worst cases, as in colonial South Africa, recalls Mr Crawhall, European settlers tried to virtually exterminate the San.

“We may not all agree on the definition of indigenous or the categorisation of communities as indigenous,” notes Ms Angela Khaminwa, a Nairobi-based expert on social inclusion policies. Giving a community special protection, she adds, might be perceived as political favouritism.

The fears of African governments are not baseless. Insurgents and politicians have all too often dwelt on ethnic differences to mobilise support against their competitors. Claims by different ethnic communities over land and mineral rights, often justified on the basis of historical precedence, have frequently contributed to armed conflict.
Under pressure from organisations representing indigenous people, some African countries have made significant progress.

Recently, Burundi amended its constitution to guarantee representation in the national assembly to the indigenous Twa people, who live in several countries in Africa's Great Lakes region. In neighbouring Rwanda, the government is working with the main Twa organisation to investigate war crimes perpetrated against them during the 1994 genocide.

(Courtesy: UN Information Centre, New Delhi.)