Security threat increases

Namibian Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo, on Wednesday warned that the country faces its most serious security problems since independence due to the Angolan rebel movement UNITA’s banditry along the northeastern border, ‘The Namibian’ reported on Thursday.

Addressing law enforcement officials in the capital, Windhoek, Ekandjo said the meeting was taking place “at a time when Namibia’s security needs are at their highest since independence”.

“The banditry and terrorist activities being committed by UNITA in the Kavango and Caprivi regions require vigilance and all-time preparedness on the part of our security forces, while the incidence of crime must also be combated in the rest of the country,” Ekandjo told the law enforcement agents, who included police, prisons and traffic officials.

Namibia last December allowed the armed forces of war-torn Angola to use its territory to pursue UNITA rebels into their strongholds in the southern parts of Angola.