BOTSWANA-NAMIBIA: Controversy over deportation of Caprivians

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 16 Dec 2003 (IRIN) - The Botswana government has denied claims by a Namibian human rights NGO that a group of Caprivian "refugees" were "abducted" from Botswana to face high treason charges in Namibia.

Presidential press secretary Jeff Ramsay told IRIN on Tuesday that the group of eight Caprivians were "de facto illegal aliens" and had been lawfully deported to Namibia on 13 December.

Ramsay said the eight had previously been granted asylum, but had returned to Namibia in 1999, thereby losing their refugee status. They were detained as illegal immigrants when they tried to cross back into Botswana.

He said he had "no information" that Namibia had lobbied for their return to face treason charges over the 1999 attack by separatist rebels on the Caprivi capital, Katima Mulilo.

The Caprivi region is an arid strip of territory in northeastern Namibia bordering Angola, Botswana and Zambia.

Director of Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), Phil ya Nangoloh, rejected the Botswana government's position that the detainees had forfeited a right to refugee status. "It doesn't matter how many times they fled if they had a reasonable fear that they could not avail themselves of adequate security in Namibia," he told IRIN.

He said at least one of the eight, Mathew Musweu, had been part of a voluntary repatriation programme organised by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, in 1999. However, he had allegedly been harassed by the Namibian security forces on the grounds of his separatist sympathies, to the point where he applied once again for asylum in Botswana.

"If indeed [the eight] had been in Botswana and went back to Namibia in 1999, any reasonable person, knowing what the [security] situation was at the time, would not be surprised if they went back [to Botswana] again. There were many cases where people were told it was safe, but when they came back they were shot - I know of two cases," ya Nangoloh said.

He added that according to the NSHR's records, one of the deported Caprivians, Immanuel Makendano, applied for asylum in Botswana for the first time in 2001, but was instead detained when he crossed the border.

The UNHCR Representative for South Africa, Bemma Donkoh, who is also responsible for UNHCR's Botswana office, told IRIN that the refugee agency had only recently been given access to the eight men, and was studying their cases. Their deportation had "come as something of a surprise", and UNHCR would be "seeking a formal clarification from the [Botswana] government".

The eight are expected to face trial in Grootfontein in northern Namibia, along with some 120 suspects charged with high treason over alleged separatist activities, Ya Nangoloh said.

The first influx of Caprivians arrived in Botswana in 1998 following the discovery by the authorities of a Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA) training camp in the home area of Mishak Muyongo, a politician and traditional leader of the Mafwe ethnic group, who had begun to agitate for succession.

A repatriation programme was launched by UNHCR the following year, but the CLA's attack on government installations in Katima Mulilo in 1999, which left 12 people dead, led to a fresh influx of refugees into Botswana, straining relations between the two countries.

A total of 2,400 Caprivians crossed the border between 1998 and 1999. UNHCR launched a fresh voluntary repatriation drive last year, after the Namibian government guaranteed the security of the returnees. However, a number of Caprivians loyal to Muyongo have chosen to remain in Botswana's Dukwi refugee camp.

For more details see: Focus on Caprivi killings

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