JRS Dispatches No. 63: Namibia
Namibia's decision to forgo its neutrality
in the Angola conflict by allowing Angolan troops into its territory to
attack UNITA has yielded serious consequences. JRS Southern Africa regional
director, Joe Hampson SJ, writes: "Dispatches in September reported
our visit to Namibia. Already JRS had made representation to UNHCR in Pretoria
and Geneva about seeming Namibian complicity in refoulement of Angolans,
especially young men of conscript age. We were told that UNHCR took the
matter very seriously. Little did we know then that after the elections,
Namibia would openly allow MPLA (government) troops access to its territory,
Caprivi and northern Namibia, in their offensive against UNITA. In exchange,
Namibia was to get new water rights and other benefits from Angola. The
results were predictable. Northern Namibia fell prey to new levels of instability,
banditry and even killings. In a two week period in December, 6,500 new
refugees were moved from the border to the Osire camp. South African television
at Christmas showed shocking pictures of an MPLA attack from Namibia on
Angolan villages just over the border, with an eye- witness account of
drugged soldiers on a raping and killing spree. On 6 January, a Namibian
human rights NGO called for an investigation into Angolan recruitment of
Namibian child soldiers and mercenaries, who are allegedly offered 700
US dollars per month (nearly three times what a Namibian soldier earns).
As I write, a phone call from Windhoek tells me of a report of a six-year
old child shot by Namibian police (the victim is Namibian, shot by the
police as they chased suspected UNITA rebels). In short, to quote a recent
IRIN (UN information agency) report, 'Namibia now finds itself irrevocably
drawn into one of Africa's bloodiest and longest-running civil wars'."