Namibia monitoring situation closely

Namibia is monitoring the military situation in Angola, its northern neighbour, “very closely” as government forces continue their offensive against UNITA rebels close to the border, a senior official told IRIN on Thursday. In recent days some battles were actually visible and audible to residents on the Namibian side of the border. “You can be sure, therefore, that our own forces are maintaining their patrols along the border to ensure that UNITA people fleeing the offensive do not cross over with their weaponry,” said Veiccoh Nghiwete, Permanent Secretary in Namibia’s foreign ministry. For this reason, he said, refugees now pouring across the border were being vetted closely in case rebel soldiers tried to cross over among them. According to figures provided by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 2,300 had fled into Namibia during the past week, most of them women and children. It has appealed for emergency funding to help provide transport to a safer location, shelter, food and medical assistance. “Like UNHCR, our government is concerned that more refugees will be crossing over as government forces flush UNITA out of their southern Angolan strongholds,” he said. Nghiwete added that the rebels had never sustained “such a beating” as they had in recent weeks. “Our reading of the situation from next door here is that UNITA have suffered a major blow from which it will be difficult for them to recover. Yes, there will be pockets of fighting here and there, but it will take UNITA years again to reach the level of armed preparedness they enjoyed just six weeks ago,” the official told IRIN. “Neither did the Angolan government need any help from its neighbours like us. They are a good fighting force and their victories of late are down to a change of tactics. We would be delighted to see the end of the UNITA terror so that rebuilding and rehabilitation can now get underway in earnest in Angola,” he said. Nghiwete added that the “democratically elected Angolan government” had also enjoyed better support this time from the Western powers. Like Western governments monitoring the military situation, he said the Namibian government also noted that large quantities of UNITA weaponry were being captured and that UNITA fighters and their commanders were deserting their leader, Jonas Savimbi in many areas.