Cape Town — Botswana police have arrested 21 Gana and Gwi hunter-gatherers for hunting on their ancestral land, says an activist group which campaigns for the rights of indigenous people.

In a statement issued in London, Survival International said the men were arrested in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve during June and early July, and they had been scheduled to appear in court last week.

In December last year, the Botswana High Court ruled that the hunter-gatherers - sometimes called Bushmen - have the right to live inside the reserve. The court said the government acted against the law in refusing to issue the Bushmen with hunting permits and in evicting them from their land.

Survival International said 700 people were evicted. More than 100 have returned home, it added, but hundreds more were afraid to go home.

Survival International spokesperson, Jonathan Mazower, said the government of Botswana was determined to keep the Gana and Gwi out of their ancestral land despite the decision of the High Court. "We can only hope that this time they (the Gana and Gwi) won't be beaten and tortured as they have in the past," he added.