UNITA training Caprivi rebels

Four Caprivi secessionist leaders in political asylum in Botswana are believed to have left the country to join Caprivi dissidents being trained by the UNITA rebel movement in Angola, diplomatic sources told IRIN on Friday. The four, Steven Mamili, Martin Tubaundule, Thadeus Ndala and Moses Mushwena, were part of a group of 13 Caprivi leaders awaiting relocation to a second country of asylum. The four men failed to report to the police last Friday under the terms of the agreement for their stay in Botswana, and have been declared wanted by the Gaborone authorities and their refugee status has been withdrawn. The concern is that they have joined UNITA who, according to regional security analysts, are training an estimated 500-600 Caprivian rebels in southeast Angola. “We fear that members of the leadership and people from Namibia have been crossing into Angola,” the sources told IRIN. “UNITA would be training them as a second option should Namibia get sucked into the Angolan conflict.” Two key Caprivi leaders, Mishake Muyongo and Chief Boniface Mamili, left Botswana for Denmark in May after being granted residence rights. But the remaining 13, who along with some 2,500 Caprivians fled into Botswana last year alleging persecution in Namibia, refused to be relocated outside Africa, humanitarian officials said. They added that there was frustration among the Caprivi leadership in Botswana over Gaborone’s ban on political activity, and that “significant numbers of Caprivians were also opting for voluntary repatriation.” Given the tensions in the past between Windhoek and Gaborone, “my fear is that Namibia could blame Botswana, who have been adhering to their international commitments, but could find themselves a victim of their location,” a security analyst told IRIN.