Abstract
The glaring contrast between the furore over the repatriation of the unknown El Negro and the continuing neglect and subordination of some 100,000 of his San and other Remote descendants is considered. Botswana's Foreign Minister shows respect for EI Negro, but Botswana's treatment of the San today is the worst in the region. Relocation of ‘unwanted’ San , carried out using highly authoritarian methods, continues to occur, and the San population remains in general without secure land rights. The grounds given by the Botswana government for relocations have included maintaining the ‘pristine environment of game reserves’, but the possibility of extensive diamond mining within the Central Kalahari Game Reserve seems also relevant. The relocations and the lack of rights have recently prompted protests and expressions of concern about the future of Botswana's San population from powerful human rights groups. It is in the context of those protests that the ceremonies surrounding the reburial of El Negro, promoted by the authorities, are to be understood.
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