Commission wants clarity on the Caprivi questionThe Namibian government is under pressure to respond and act on allegations of gross human rights abuses in the former Caprivi Strip, now the Zambezi Region. President asked to report back in 15 days The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights has requested President Hage Geingob to investigate alleged systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in and about the Zambezi Region. The continental body has warned that if allegations of gross violation of human- and other rights are true, the Namibian government would be guilty of acting contrary to rights guaranteed in the African Charter and other regional and international instruments.
The commission, based in Gambia in the capital Banjul, on 2 September wrote to Geingob to request his intervention and assurance that the Namibian government will provide clarification on the matter as well as to “refrain” from such violations.
The chairperson of the Caprivi Concerned Group (CCG) has laid a complaint with the commission in which it alleged a number of human rights violations by the Namibian state.
Amongst others, it alleges that in March and June 1999, the government had “illegally occupied and forcibly annexed” the formerly known Caprivi Strip.
CCG further claimed that the Namibian state had since 1998 “committed gross human rights violations on Caprivians including summary executions, enforced disappearances, torture and unlawful detention amounting to oppression or state oppression”.
It said in 2004 and 2006, the Namibian government had banned and denied the registration of Caprivi-based political parties like the United Democratic Party (UDP), Caprivi National Democratic Party (CNDP) and the Candidature of National Unity (CaNU).
It stated that in July 2012, former Prime Minister Nahas Angula had rejected “compromise solutions” like political dialogue and/or a referendum which was rejected by President Geingob in August 2015.
CCG now maintains that local remedies have been exhausted and in his latest submission to the commission its chairperson Lutamba Lutamba, claims that he was first issued a forced transfer from where he was teaching to another school in a remote flood-prone area, but before this transfer was realised, he was issued with a letter of dismissal in April and is yet to receive his salary.
Lutamba said after Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga of the Namibian police warned that those who want to “continue with the idea of Caprivi secession” would face the wrath of the law similar to those jailed on treason charges, the deputy chairperson of the CCG, Retief Kangongo, went “missing”.
It was later reported that Kangongo had fled to Botswana though his family does not know what his status is.
Lutamba further alleges that CCG leaders were warned “by a reliable source” that the Namibian government “has commissioned a hit-squad to eliminate CCG leaders particularly because it has reported about mass graves to the African Commission.
The commissioner of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Pansy Tlakula, said this could be construed as a war crime or a crime against humanity.
The alleged hit-squad allegedly comprises ten combatants of former Plan force “who are believed to have had the same responsibility during Namibia’s liberation struggle”, Tlakula wrote in a letter to President Geingob.
CCG further states that the Caprivi is a disputed area and should not be subject to any boundary treaty between Namibia and Botswana pending a legal and political solution.
Tlakula wrote that the commission is invoking its Rule 98 of its Rules of Procedure and issue provisional measures “to prevent irreparable harm being done” to the CCG members and the “represented victims”.
If the CCG’s accusations are correct, the Namibian government would be in violation of a number of rights guaranteed by the African Charter, as well as other regional and international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture (CAT), Tlakula said.
Tlakula asked President Geingob to report to the commission within 15 days of receipt of the letter.
The contents of the CCG’s complaints to the commission, as well as President Geingob’s response, will be discussed at the commission’s next ordinary session.
Catherine Sasman