Nujoma urges exiles to return

President Sam Nujoma of Namibia on Sunday called on all Namibians seeking refuge in Botswana from secessionist tensions in the northern Caprivi strip to return home. In a speech in the capital Windhoek to thousands of supporters, Nujoma said: “All those Namibians who followed the failed and disgruntled politicians to Botswana should come back to their country as there will be no reprisals or witchhunts as they are Namibians first and then Caprivians. They are welcome to return to their own country.” Nujoma’s remarks were confirmed to IRIN on Tuesday by Abisayi Shaningwa, a policy analyst in the president’s office. Nujoma added: “Those who incited people to work for the breakaway of Caprivi should remember that Namibia is not divisible, and their acts are treason against the State.” Namibians, he added, valued the rule of law, friendship and peaceful resolution of problems. The president’s remarks were a sequel to the flight by hundreds of Caprivians to Botswana earlier this year, on grounds that they feared political persecution in Namibia because of their alleged association with the Caprivi Liberation Movement. According to UNHCR figures, an estimated 2,400 Namibians were currently seeking refugee status in Botswana. Most have been granted political asylum in Botswana and were housed in the Dukwe refugee camp in northern Botswana. Their leaders were being accommodated near the capital, Gaborone, pending negotiations to find them asylum in third countries. Two weeks ago, five of the asylum-seekers from Caprivi were repatriated after voluntarily applying through the UNHCR to be sent home.