DATE=4/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ANGOLA / NAMIBIA / REFUGEES (L-O)
NUMBER=2-261428
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: International aid workers and local human-
rights activists say the rights of Angolan refugees in
Namibia are being violated, despite expressions of
concern earlier this year. They say scores of
refugees are being forcibly sent back to their war-
torn country with the assistance of Namibian
officials. Southern Africa Correspondent Alex Belida
has this report.
TEXT: Aid workers say more than two-thousand Angolan
refugees seeking to flee to Namibia to escape renewed
fighting in their homeland have been turned back in
recent weeks at the border between the two countries.
These sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say
other Angolans allowed to enter Namibia are being
divided into two groups. They say able-bodied men are
being sent back to Angola for forcible induction into
the armed forces, while only old men, women, and
children are sent on to the main refugee camp, called
Osire, north of Windhoek.
Officials of the U-N refugee agency say they are aware
of only 700-cases this year in which Angolans have
been forcibly repatriated.
But Phil ya Nangolah of Namibia's National Society for
Human Rights tells V-O-A that figure is far too low.
He says even the new estimate of two-thousand cited by
aid workers is too conservative.
// YA NANGOLAH ACT //
Just imagine that a number of close to 10-
thousand women who are in the majority at the
Osire Refugee Camp. You may want to ask
yourself as to what has happened to their
husbands, to their male children. This tells
you, gives us approximately the magnitude of the
people who have been deported from Namibia.
Two-thousand is conservative, it is extremely
conservative.
// END ACT //
U-N investigators visited Namibia earlier this year to
probe reports that the rights of Angolan refugees were
being violated.
An internal report later leaked to the news media
confirmed there had been cases of forcible
repatriations, cases of refugees being abducted, and
cases of refugee families being separated. They also
found instances in which Angolans were being lured
from the Osire refugee camp on false pretenses and
then sent across the border to join the Angolan army.
// OPT // Mr. ya Nangolah confirms these findings.
// OPT YA NANGOLAH ACT //
There are two actions that are taking place.
Those who are arriving in the country across the
border, our northeastern border, they are
immediately being separated from their wives for
interviews and these are the ones who are taken
forcibly into the Angolan army. They include
children as young as 14 years old. In other
cases, intelligence officers are going to the
Osire Refugee Camp. There they go with the
power of persuasion. They are saying, 'You
people are sitting here in the camp and we have
employment for you on Namibia farms in the
northwestern part of the country.' So they are
being taken under pretext they are going to work
on commercial farms in Namibia. Then after they
leave the camp, they are being taken straight to
the Angolan border and handed over to the
Angolan army for recruitment.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
Following quiet protests, the office of the U-N High
Commissioner for Refugees was allowed to deploy
additional staff along the northern Namibian border to
ensure there were no further involuntary
repatriations. Namibian officials vowed they would
put an end to illegal practices.
But aid workers and human-rights activists say abuses
of refugee rights have since resumed.
// OPT // AGAIN, HERE IS MR. YA NANGOLAH:
// OPT YA NANGOLAH ACT //
They put temporarily a stop to this practice but
it has started again. The main Angolan
intelligence officers who used to come to
Namibia to recruit people from Osire Refugee
Camp, they have returned again about three weeks
ago and they continue to do so.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
Namibian authorities are denying the latest charges.
Mikka Asino, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home
Affairs, tells V-O-A anyone seeking refugee status
from Angola is automatically granted asylum. He says
Namibia understands what he terms the - precarious
situation - in their homeland and says that it is
scrupulously observing all international conventions
on the protection of refugees.
But Mr. Asino says anyone granted refugee status, with
a few exceptions, must live at the Osire camp - even
if they have Namibian relatives in the north. He says
they are generally not allowed to work. Otherwise he
says they face arrest as illegal aliens.
A high-level diplomatic source, speaking on condition
of anonymity, says three-thousand Angolans are being
held in detention in Namibia as alleged illegal
aliens. They face possible deportation.
// OPT // The source says it is understood that
Angolan military authorities are specifically
interested in drafting able-bodied men among these
detainees for immediate military service // END OPT
//
This source also says Angola and Namibia have drafted
an agreement that would effectively formalize the
continued forced repatriation of Angolans, in defiance
of international conventions intended to prevent
refugees from being forced to return to zones of
combat.
Namibian Home Affairs Ministry spokesman Asino denies
there is any such agreement. He also dismisses as
outrageous, the claim that three-thousand Angolans are
currently being held as illegal aliens. He
acknowledges that 17-hundred-and-46 have been deported
so far this year, but says only 108 are presently in
custody. (SIGNED)
NEB/BEL/GE/RAE
17-Apr-2000 13:14 PM EDT (17-Apr-2000 1714 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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