UNHCR and government to discuss UNITA suspects' fate

The United Nations refugee agency in Namibia is to meet government officials next week to discuss the future of 80 suspected UNITA rebels who have been held in Dordabis, about 100 km southeast of the capital Windhoek, for almost 18 months. The Namibian on Wednesday quoted Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Niilo Taapopi as saying that his ministry would recommend to the political leadership that the 80 be given refugee status and moved to a camp of their own - not the one at Osire which already houses about 22,000 refugees, mostly from Angola. Taapopi said the decision followed talks between the ministry, UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and that the group was a threat to Angolan and Namibian security. He said some of the detainees wanted to return to Angola, some wanted refugee status in Namibia and some felt they had been in Namibia long enough to become citizens. "Their main challenge is to prove that they are not a security threat. We maintain that they are UNITA collaborators," he was quoted as saying, adding that the group could not be housed at Osire because they would inlfuence people there and disrupt the peace in Namibia and Angola. The report said the 80 suspects were not charged with committing any crime, despite the government's insistence that they were UNITA bandits and were linked to atrocities carried out in northeastern regions of the country. At least 82 people were taken to Dordabis after being rounded up in the Kavango region in June and July last year as security forces tried to clamp down on banditry attacks mainly on civilians, it added. Two died from illnesses while in custody. Hesdy Rathling, UNHCR representative in Namibia, told IRIN on Wednesday that last year the government asked the agency to help "find a solution in terms of a third country" for the detainees. "We said that before we look for a third country, let's determine if they (the detainees) are of concern to us. We were allowed access to them, interviewed them and presented to the government our recommendations somewhere in the second quarter of this year," he said. Noting that the issue was extremely sensitive, Rathling said he could not comment on Taapopi's reported statements, but was aware that his ministry was in the process deciding how best to implement the agency's recommendations. He said he would raise the issue with Taapopi next week.