Botswana’s San Bushmen, fighting a battle for rights to their ancestral land in the Kalahari desert, on Monday appealed to Hollywood star Leonardo Di Caprio.
Campaigners wrote to the "Titanic" star after hearing about his new movie "The Blood Diamond", in which he plays a smuggler of gemstones whose profits are used to help finance civil wars in Africa. "Friends have told us that you are in a film, ‘The Blood Diamond’, which shows how badly diamonds can hurt. We know this. When we were chased off our land, officials told us it was because of the diamond finds," Roy Sesana, a spokesman for the Bushmen said in a letter to Di Caprio.

" Please help us Sir. We know you are a famous and respected man, and that
if you speak up for us many people will listen. We just want to go home, and hunt and gather and live in peace like we have always done." The appeal to Di Caprio also appears in a full-page advertisement in the film magazine Variety. The Bushmen are hoping that DiCaprio will take the lead of veteran British
actress Julie Christie who has also spoken out for their cause. "The Bushman evictions in Botswana are a clear demonstration that local people
are still suffering because of diamonds," she said. Around 200 Bushmen filed an application in April 2002 challenging their eviction from a game reserve in the Kalahari. Judgement will be heard in December.