The Namibian ministry of defence claim that armoured vehicles manufactured by its commercial subsidiary, August 26 Holdings, have only been sold to United Nations demining operations in Angola and Iraq has raised further questions about the transparency and accountability of the company.
In a written reply to questions asked by opposition MPs last week, Deputy Minister of Defence Lieutenant Colonel Victor Simunja insisted that only seven locally manufactured armoured personnel carriers, known as Werewolves, were sold over the past two years to UN missions in Angola and Iraq.
Simunja also accused opposition MP McHenry Venaani of breaching national security by raising the matter in the National Assembly, and denied that August 26 had ever sold any armoured vehicles to private military contractors in Iraq or elsewhere.
However, the UN mission to Angola, known as Unavem III, was ordered out of Angola in 1998 by Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos as his government prepared for its final military offensive against former rebel movement Unita.
NGOs active in Angola in the clearing of landmines said the UN was never directly involved in any de-mining operations, although some operations have been funded by the World Food Programme.
‘The UN never did any clearing of landmines — full stop. If anything, [August 26] may have sold some vehicles to Sedita,†one well-placed source said. Sedita is a private demining company set up by the son of Angolan Home Affairs Minister Andrei Petroff.
Petroff visited the August 26 plant in July last year, and unconfirmed reports indicate that he purchased at least two of these vehicles.
Similarly, Simunja’s claims that August 26 sold five Werewolves to Unami were contradicted by sources in Iraq, who offered photographic evidence of these vehicles being used by Erinys International, a British-South African private security company.
Documentation and photographs seen by the Mail & Guardian indicate that the vehicles are the property of Amico, the procurement arm of the United States Army’s Corps of Engineers in the Gulf Region division.
Defence ministry spokesperson Margereth Amugulu said this week that she could not reach Simunja to verify who had signed the end-user certificates for the Werewolves.