Officials meet over border clashes

Zambian and Angolan officials were expected to meet in Luanda, the Angolan capital, on Tuesday in talks aimed at stemming cross-border raids, officials told IRIN. The raids have killed seven Zambians and seen 140 others abducted over the past three weeks.

Senior army officials are leading the Zambian government team in the talks which are a follow-up to a meeting in Lusaka last week between Zambian officials and an Angolan delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister George Chikoti.

Chikoti told reporters on arrival in Lusaka on Friday 23 November that Angolan government troops (FAA) were not involved in the recent cross-border attacks. He suggested that the dead Zambian villagers were caught in crossfire between FAA and Angolan rebel UNITA fighters, that Luanda allege are using Zambian territory.

Chikoti's denial of government involvement came after Zambian President Frederick Chiluba announced that 10 FAA troopers were killed last week by Zambian soldiers on the border, and reports of the capture of two Angolan army officers who had strayed into the country.

There have been few detailed official reports about the situation on the ground in Zambia's Western Province, where the clashes took place. However, local sources told IRIN tensions remain high in the area. Scores of villagers outside the border town of Senanga have fled their homes in the wake of repeated attacks by marauding armed men. Many have sought sanctuary at a school in the town.

Last week, the raids extended to villages outside Kalabo, another border town, where rampaging soldiers reportedly raped several women. Zambian Defence Minister Joshua Simuyandi conceded at the weekend that Zambian forces did not have the capacity to completely seal the border against invaders. "Our people must appreciate that we are faced with a long border. It is not possible that we can guarantee patrols on every inch of the border," Simuyandi said.

Meanwhile, University of Zambia [UNZA] students and lecturers threatened to stage anti-Angolan demonstrations in the capital if Angolan forces invaded Zambia again. "We would like to warn that, as ordinary Zambians, we will not tolerate such irresponsibility from Angolan forces again," the students and lecturers said in a petition. "If we hear of any other atrocities, we will stage a demonstration to the Angolan embassy in Lusaka to attract world media attention."

The spate of raids on Zambian villages started on 7 November, when suspected Angolan soldiers abducted 103 people and killed at least seven others. Subsequent raids saw another 37 Zambians being abducted and several women being raped. Relations between Zambia and Angola have been frosty since the late 1990s, when Angola accused Zambia of allowing arms shipments to UNITA through its territory in defiance of a UN ban on support for the rebel movement. The Zambian government denied supporting UNITA.

Both governments said earlier this year that relations had improved with the creation of a joint security committee to oversee border problems, which was later extended to include Namibia.