Namibians flee Caprivi

An estimated 400 Namibians have fled into Botswana in recent weeks from the tense Caprivi Strip region bordering Angola.

UNHCR Representative, Mengesha Kebede, told IRIN on Thursday: “Namibian applicants have been saying that intimidation by armed elements forced them to flee to Botswana to seek political asylum.” The Caprivi Strip has been the scene of reprisal attacks by suspected UNITA rebels since Namibia granted the Angolan government the right to launch attacks from its border territories. The area has also seen internal separatist tensions, resulting in a security crackdown.

Kebede said the Namibians were being housed at the Dukwe refugee camp in Botswana, well away from the border zone. In Windhoek, ‘The Namibian’ reported that the refugees “are believed to have fled from attacks blamed on UNITA rebels and heavy-handed responses by security forces in West Caprivi”.

Kebede said that in the most recent influx, 32 people crossed into Botswana last Thursday. An estimated 1,600 refugees are currently living in the Dukwe refugee camp. Their numbers include some 300 Angolans.

Most of the Namibians already at Dukwe had fled Caprivi after growing separatist agitation in 1998. A repatriation programme for the Namibians was stopped following a separatist attack in the Caprivi in August last year. Kebede said UNHCR “is still looking for resettlement countries” for a group of Namibians granted political asylum along with separatist leader, Mishake Muyongo.