U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa
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Southern Africa: IRIN Weekly Round-Up 2 covering the period 7-13 Nov 1998
NAMIBIA-BOTSWANA: Flight from Caprivi raises tensions
An influx of Namibians fleeing the Caprivi Strip area south into Botswana this week raised tensions between Botswana and Namibia. As an influx which developed over the past fortnight increased to at least 1,000 people by the end of the week, Gaborone said it could no longer cope with the stream of people fleeing a government crackdown on Caprivi separatists.
"This is a problem we do not want," said Andrew Sesinyi, an official in the Botswana president's office. "Prisons are already overcrowded and the Botswana government will be making an international appeal as soon as possible."
The Namibians are seeking asylum on grounds that they would be persecuted should they return. Gaborone and the UNHCR are investigating the claims, but were making a distinction between the armed rebels and apparent refugees. Namibian President Sam Nujoma has, however, accused all the Caprivians of treason and murder, and demanded they be sent home.
Those going to Botswana have included armed men claiming to be members of the secessionist Caprivi Liberation Army, and opposition politicians from the region. In their wake have come some 300 civilians from the Mafwe ethnic group and more than 600 San bushmen. According to the independent 'The Namibian' newspaper, they were fleeing security sweeps by the army and para-military Special Field Force.
Human rights concerns Phil ya Nangoloh, Executive Director of the Namibian National Society for Human Rights told IRIN the crackdown in Caprivi "is taking on the proportions of a witch hunt against the Mafwe". The Mafwe are a Lozi-speaking community historically linked to separatist agitation and calls for union with Lozis across the border in Zambia. Nangoloh expected the influx to increase, and said he feared any who were returned could be subjected to detention or face torture. "The president has already acted as judge and jury and found them guilty of high treason," he said.
UNHCR examines the situation
Meanwhile, UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative Mengesha Kebede went to meet some of the Namibians to interview as many as possible in an effort to help resolve the situation. "It's a highly sensitive refugee issue," Kebede told IRIN. "We need to talk to as many asylum seekers as possible."
The remote Caprivi strip is home to some 100,000 mostly Lozi speaking people. Ya Nangoloh said there had been a tradition of secession in the region based on ethnic ties to the pre-colonial Lozi Barotseland kingdom of western Zambia. Caprivi's underdevelopment has sharpened resentment towards Windhoek, and the free-flow of weapons from UNITA-held southeastern Angola has armed the rebels, he said.
ZIMBABWE: Another mass stayaway planned
The Zimbabwe capital Harare was bracing for another one-day nationwide mass stayaway next week in response to a trade union protest against government economic policies.
One person was killed in a clash between troops and demonstrators in eastern Zimbabwe this week when most businesses in Harare and other towns were closed in the first of a series of weekly protests called by the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). The union told IRIN it had called for the action after failed talks with the government on Monday over labour demands for a suspension of a 67 percent fuel price increase introduced at the end of last month.
Labour leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the ZCTU had opted for a stayaway rather than protest action to prevent clashes with the police and army, who were patrolling Harare and its suburbs.
"We are going through a serious crisis," ZCTU Deputy Secretary-General Isidore Zindoga Manhando told IRIN. "We hope the government can take advantage of our concessions and sit down and agree. We appreciate the need to look at [the fuel subsidy]. But it is the unilateral approach, without consulting stake holders, that provoked the situation."
Political sources in Zimbabwe told IRIN people were also protesting against the human and financial cost of the country's military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo by 6,000 Zimbabwe troops sent to help President Laurent-Desire Kabila.
ANGOLA: Fresh attacks reported as peace accords unravels
At least 20 people were killed when armed men ambushed two lorries on a remote stretch of road in southern Angola. The governor of Benguela province said the attack occurred on Monday near a settlement called Kaluteva about 50 km from the town of Benguela, but gave no further details.
In an earlier attack on diamond mine at the weekend, in northeast Angola, five employees were killed and five kidnapped by armed gunmen. By the end of the week, the release of the hostages was still being negotiated.
As both incidents were being investigated, analysts recalled that random bloodletting had resumed in Angola following the virtual breakdown in recent months of the Lusaka Peace Accords signed four years ago by the MPLA government and the UNITA rebel movement which have been at war since the country's independence in 1975.
"The peace process worked very well until now, and suddenly we are facing a deadlock," the UN envoy to Angola, Iffa Diallo, told a news conference in Pretoria after talks this week with the South African government. "From that deadlock, war is on its way." Compliance by both sides with the Lusaka accords was the only way to bring about peace in the country, he added.
MONUA denies troops held hostage
A senior UN official has denied that MONUA troops were being held hostage in two towns controlled by UNITA in Angola's central highlands. He said transfer of 15 remaining MONUA troops to the provincial capital, Huambo, had been delayed by weather conditions.
"I know there have been rumours," the official told IRIN, "but they are not hostages at all."
ZAMBIA: Angolan refugee influx
UNHCR said an estimated 200 Angolan refugees had crossed into Zambia in recently fleeing rnewed tensions in the southeastern Moxico province. In a statement UNHCR said: "At present we have no indication whether more Angolans are likely to enter Zambia, but we are preparing ourselves incase a larger influx occurs." The Angolans were being sheltered at a transit centre in Mwinilunga.
The staterment said some of the reguees had fled after reports of forced conscription by UNITA forces in the Cazombo area. A regional observer told IRIN that a recent bombing raid by three Angolan jets on Cazombo had also heightened tensions: "Things are definitely heating up that side," he said.
Johannesburg 13 November 1998 12:30 GMT
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