MONDAY, 5.00PM
DEMOCRATIC Republic of the Congo President Laurent Kabila arrived in the Namibian capital Windhoek on Monday morning for a two-day official visit, during which a major Windhoek street will be named after him.
Kabila, on his second official visit to an African state since he took power in May, was due to hold private talks with Namibian President Sam Nujoma on Monday afternoon, which were to be followed by official talks. On Tuesday, Kabila and his delegation are expected to visit Walvis Bay and the coastal resort town of Swakopmund.
However, not all Namibians are happy at Kabila’s visit. Namibia’s National Society of Human Rights said it noted with shock and disbelief that President Sam Nujoma had extended the invitation to Kabila despite international concern over massive human rights violations in the DRC.
“President Nujoma has in recent times displayed a tendency or appetite for inviting to, or receiving in, Namibia notorious tyrants and potential despots, including Nigeria’s Ibrahim Babangida or Sani Abacha and the Burmese leader, whose leadership were never tested through free and fair elections”, the NSHR said on Sunday.
The human rights body called on Nujoma to use the talks with Kabila to urge him to allow democratic elections in his country, grant basic human freedoms and permit the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit people detained as a result of the military conflict.