Nightly curfew along common border

Namibia announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew along a stretch of its northern border with Angola to prevent raids by Angolan rebel movement UNITA, AP reported. The report quoted army commander Major General Martin Shalli as saying on Tuesday that residents on both sides of the Okavango River, which formed the border, would have to stay 200 m from its banks during the curfew.

He said the rural population along the 340 km border would be notified of the curfew and that Angolan government forces had already been informed, the report said. It quoted Shalli as saying that over the past six months, nine Namibians were injured by landmines, while UNITA rebels abducted 20 people and stole 163 head of cattle. Namibian soldiers and police killed 34 UNITA soldiers, freed 15 of the captured Namibians and recovered 103 of the cattle, he said.

To make the point, the report said, journalist were shown three men whom the army claimed were captured UNITA members. The three, who were thin and dressed in ragged clothes, said they had been ordered by a UNITA commander in southeastern Angola to steal clothes and cattle and to plant landmines.