Own Correspondent, Windhoek
HUMANITARIAN organisations in Namibia fear that the planned move of a huge refugee camp to the northeast of the country will disrupt the fragile way of life of the largely illiterate San hunter-gatherers there.
Officials say that as a result of that concern, the ministry of home affairs has agreed to commission an independent feasibility study before moving the 20_000 refugees – mostly Angolans fleeing civil war – from Osire, in the centre of the country, to a former army base at M’kata, in Bushmanland.
The commissioner for refugees at the ministry of home affairs, Elizabeth Negumbo, confirmed that the Mengesha Kebede, a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, had warned the government that the international donor community was concerned about the impact 20_000 new arrivals in the area might have.
The Osire refugee camp’s population has increased nearly tenfold since Namibia allowed Angolan troops to attack rebels from Namibian soil late in 1999.
Both local and international humanitarian organisations fear that relocation would harm the !Kung, !Xu and Ju/Hoansi culture of the estimated 6_000 San living in the area.
Chief John Arnold, the leader of the !Kung traditional authority, wrote a letter to the ministry to warn that 20 000 people in such a fragile environment could endanger various self-development programmes his people have launched over the past few years, sources with WIMSA (Working Group for Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa) said.
Quoting from a copy of the letter, a WIMSA official said the !Kung were afraid that a conservancy they had created would collapse from poaching by the refugees, a problem that has contributed to pressure to move the refugees away from Osire, which is situated among commercial farms.
The chief also expressed fears that 20_000 refugees could bring the HIV-AIDS virus into the community, as well as overwhelming local health care and schooling facilities.
Other international organisations involved with feeding Namibia’s burgeoning refugee population said their organisations had invested “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in creating infrastructure at Osire, including a clinic, a school and various other amenities.
“To simply abandon this infrastructure is not going to be acceptable to our sponsors in the international donor community,” said one official. – AFP