CHRISPIN INAMBAO, Windhoek | Monday
THREE villagers had their limbs blown off in landmine explosions in the Kavango Region on Wednesday, human rights monitors said at the weekend.
Two of the incidents took place at Ndonga Linena, 100km east of Rundu, and followed a night-time raid on the village by suspected bandits.
The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) named one of the victims as Johanna Kambungo (18) from Ndonga Linena.
At around 09h00 last Wednesday Kambungo went to the Kavango river to wash her baby’s nappies.
On her way she detonated a landmine and her right foot was blown off.
Some six hours earlier – at 03h00 – the victim and her husband had fled their hut after a group of unknown people descended on their homestead.
The couple only went back to their home after they had spent a night in the bush.
According to the NSHR, as Kambungo’s husband and two Namibia Defence Force (NDF) soldiers went to investigate the blast which maimed his wife, they heard another explosion in which Laulinda Nduva Muyenga (27) had her foot blown off after detonating a mine.
Shortly afterwards the soldiers defused another mine they discovered nearby.
On the same day, Brighita Numba (24) from Shighuru village, 90 km east of Rundu, had her right leg blown off after she stepped on a landmine near the Kavango river.
A source in the Ministry of Health and Social Services yesterday confirmed that the three women, whose limbs have already been amputated, are being treated at Rundu State Hospital.
She described their condition as satisfactory following the surgical amputations.
Villagers at Ndonga Linena were reported to be angry because the NDF, after a number of mine-sweeping operations in the area, had apparently told them the area was cleared and “safe”.
In the past most of the attacks on civilians in the Kavango Region have been blamed on Unita rebels, although rogue members of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) have also been accused of killings and laying landmines.
The FAA has a base on the Angolan side of the river opposite the area where the latest incidents took place.
“In the current world climate of condemnation for terrorist activity, the NSHR condemns these cowards who plant landmines between villages and the local water source,” stated NSHR. – The Namibian
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