Activists call for release of Angolan detainees

Namibian human rights activists on Wednesday called for the immediate release of 78 Angolans at Dordabis prison, saying their ongoing detention constituted a gross human rights violation. The Dordabis 78, originally arrested in June and July 2000 following allegations that they were members of Angola's former rebel group UNITA, have never been charged or brought before a court of law. The 78 were initially accused by the Namibian government of involvement in a spate of attacks on civilians in northeastern Namibia. Rights groups told IRIN that despite a blanket amnesty granted to UNITA rebels under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Angolan government and the rebel group in April, the plight of the Dordabis detainees had not been addressed. Last week a tripartite agreement between the government's of Angola and Namibia and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) paved the way for the return of some 20,000 Angolan refugees living in Namibia. But the agreement made no provision for the release and repatriation of the Dordabis 78. "This is a gross violation of human rights and the country's constitution. Article 11 of constitution makes it clear that any person accused of a criminal offence should be brought before a court within 48 hours. The government is just postponing the inevitable. There have been suggestions that the government is afraid that the detainees, should they be released, would bring a civil suit against the government for the suffering they are enduring in prison," the executive director of the Namibian Society for Human Rights, Phil ya Nangoloh, told IRIN. The independent daily The Namibian on Monday quoted Nisa de Fatima, an Angolan government official responsible for repatriation affairs, as saying that the Dordabis detainees would be dealt with at the political level of the joint Namibian-Angolan Commission on Defence and Security. Meanwhile, the Windhoek-based Legal Assistance Centre's Toni Hancox, who is representing one of the Dordabis detainees, Orelio Samakupa, said the government had yet to respond to a letter requesting whether it intended to bring charges against Samakupa. Hancox told IRIN: "The request has been forwarded to the attorney-general. We were expecting a response today [Wednesday] but we will give it a few days. It would be easy to say that these men have been lost in the bureaucracy but it cannot be put down to just that. In the past there hasn't been the political will to address the plight of the detainees. Hopefully, with the recent repatriation agreement the Dordabis 78 will receive the adequate attention they deserve." Hancox added that of the 78, Samakupa was the only detainee who had approached the legal centre for assistance. "We were approached by Samakupa's wife and that is why we are addressing his case. It is difficult to assess what the conditions of the other prisoners are as the Dordabis prison is fairly far out from the capital Windhoek," she said. The detainees originally numbered 80 but two have died due to ill health.