WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM
A NAMIBIAN human rights group has released a report claiming that 1 768 Angolans from the former Unita stronghold of Cuando-Cubango have disappeared or been killed while in the custody of Namibia’s army.
At a press conference in Windhoek, National Society for Human Rights director Phil ya Nangolo said the killings and disappearances had taken place between September 29 1994 and June 30 1997. However, cautioned Ya Nangolo, “please take note that not all of those who disappeared have been killed”.
In its report, Namibia: A Silent War Along The Northeastern Frontier, the rights group itemises cases in which groups of Angolans from Unita-held territory were handed over to the Angolan government and not seen again.
The NSHR report also cites cases of severe assault, such as the case in which Akonia Kandenge Semete (56) died at Rundu Hospital after being “accosted by either Namibia Defence Force soldiers or members of the notorious Special Field Force of the Namibia Police'”.
The NSHR names 35 Angolans and Namibians, whom it claims were shot or beaten to death along the Kavango river, in one case as recently as a month ago. Those killed were residents of the northern Namibian towns of Mukwe and Rundu. The report provides the full names of victims and the place and date of each murder.
Ya Nangolo said police in the area were aware of some of the cases cited, but a recent investigation by the NDF and Police into some of the claims made by the human rights group was a “charade”.
The Ministry of Defence’s deputy permanent secretary, Hopelong Ipinge, who headed the government team which investigated the NSHR’s initial charges, said: “I am just reading that thing of Phil ya Nangolo. This is a blatant lie. We are filing the report to our principals, who will tell us what necessary action to take.”