Protesters held a silent vigil outside University College in Oxford against a visit from an African president.

They said the college should not have entertained Botswana president Festus Mogae because of his country's treatment of bushmen who, since 1997, have been forced to move from their ancestral lands.

They allege he has forced the Gana and Gwi bushmen, who follow a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, from land he wants to exploit for tourism and diamond mining.

Prof Jeremy MacClancy, a social anthropologist from Oxford Brookes University, said: "Botswana contains one of the last pockets of hunter-gatherers who live off the land. They've been forcibly relocated from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which was created for them about 20 years ago."

About eight protesters spoke to the president in Oxford's High Street. He told them he would not allow the bushmen to return.

Lord Butler, master of the college, said Botswana had one of the best records in Africa for democracy and fighting corruption.

President Mogae studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at University College during the 1960s and is a Fellow of the college.

During his official visit to the UK, he will hold talks with the Queen, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. Discussions during President Mogae's UK visit will centre on trade, Zimbabwe, and Aids.