Rights group blames UNITA for murders

The Namibian Society for Human Rights (NSHR) on Wednesday blamed a group of Angolan UNITA insurgents for the murder of two people in what it called a “brutal” attack on remote Namibian village along the Angolan border on Friday night, some 170 km east of the Kavango regional capital, Rundu.

“The NSHR strongly condemns the wanton killing of two Namibians and the serious wounding of another person at the hands of a large group of UNITA rebels,” the society said in a statement. It quoted eyewitnesses and NSHR monitors who visited the village as saying the rebel group of about 40 armed men, were well known in the area. They returned the next morning, ransacked the village, and left a landmine to prevent pursuit. NSHR said the area had not been patrolled by by either Namibian security forces or their Angolan allies.

“As a responsible and impartial human rights organization, we do not tolerate any wanton killings of civilians by any armed formations operating along our northeastern border. UNITA is, definitely, not an exception,” said NSHR director Phil ya Nangoloh. “We reiterate our call that all the warring parties, the Governments of Namibia and Angola as well as the UNITA movement should prevent all atrocities perpetrated by their forces along the border areas.”