Amnesty International cites human rights abuses

Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog, has accused the Namibian and Angolan security forces as well as the Angolan rebel movement UNITA of violating the rights of residents in volatile northern Namibian towns bordering war-torn Angola.

In a report released on Wednesday, Amnesty said civilians on both sides of the Okavango river, which forms the border between southeastern Angola and much of northeastern Namibia, had been subjected to extra-judicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, forcible deportations and beatings.

The report is a sequel to a two-week stay in Namibia, including the Kavango region, by Amnesty’s researchers in January and February. The report said some civilians have “disappeared” without trace, while those suspected of assisting UNITA or of being illegal immigrants have been handed back to the Angolan authorities apparently without being given the opportunity to request asylum.

Said the report: “Civilian life has been disrupted. On the Namibian side of the border, villages have been attacked by armed bands which are often identified by the villagers as UNITA forces. Further east, in Caprivi, following armed attacks by secessionists on Katima Mulilo last August, over 300 people suspected of being involved in the attack were arrested and many of them were reportedly tortured by Namibian police.”

Amnesty said eyewitnesses in Rundu, the capital of Kavango, recounted how on 14 December they saw a group of men being led off behind bushes by Angolan soldiers and later heard gunshots. “The eyewitnesses said they also saw two other groups of people, including women and children, being led off in other directions,” said the report.

It said a few days later a group of journalists crossed into Angola and filmed bodies which had begun to decompose. The report added that the journalists observed six bodies in two groups of three each not far from the village of Halukombe and that one of the victims appeared to have a bullet hole in the forehead.

The report cites cases of indiscriminate shooting at civilians by the Namibian forces, causing death and injury. It says in January a six-year-old girl was shot dead by a Namibian Defence Force (NDF) soldier, while a man was injured after he was shot in the buttocks in the same incident.

Amnesty said a murder investigation is underway into the death of Mpengu Haininga in January in Sheghuru village, about 75 km east of Rundu. The report said official sources said Haininga was shot and killed by an officer of Namibia’s Special Field Forces (SFF) as he allegedly tried to escape after being arrested for failing to produce identification documents.

“Many attacks involving killings were attributed to UNITA. Many appeared to include an intention to spread terror,” said the Amnesty report. “People have also been maimed or killed by landmines the attackers left to deter pursuit.”

The report said Thikanduko village in northeastern Kavango region was attacked by an armed group in January. The villagers reportedly told Amnesty that the group had come from a village on the Angolan side of the river which is visible from Thikanduko. The villagers added that they knew four of the attackers by name as UNITA members because they used to cross into Namibia to shop and receive medical attention.

In February, added the report, an armed group identified as UNITA, reportedly killed three people and burned down nine houses when they attacked Shinyungwe village, about 125 km east of Rundu. Amnesty said among those killed was an elderly man who was shot and killed as he emerged from his burning house.

Amnesty said it appeared that Namibian police cooperated with Angola’s armed forces in the selection of some of the Angolan refugees for forcible deportation to Angola since last December. “Namibian authorities appear to have breached both national and international law, including the UN Refugee Convention, in their manner of dealing with refugees fleeing the fighting in Angola,” said the report.

The report said villagers and people living in Rundu, recounted instances of SFF personnel who routinely beat those they stopped during identification checks. It cited a case where a young boy was seen being repeatedly beaten by the butt of a gun by a member of SFF. The boy had apparently tried to cross the river in a canoe in an attempt to retrieve cattle.

The NDF had previously dismissed reports of human rights violations as “rubbish”.