Over lions and crocodiles: Refugees recount flight to safety
Mbongeni Mguni | Thursday March 24, 2016 11:35
Tensions had long been rising. The inhabitants of a 20-kilometre wide and 400 kilometre-long piece of paradise nestled between the Zambezi, Chobe, Linyanti and Okavango rivers said they were being brutally oppressed.
The Caprivi Strip wanted to be free of Namibia and residents were willing to use force to extricate themselves from ‘Big Brother’s’ grip. The popular secessionist party in the region, the United Democratic Party (UDP) had formed a militant wing, the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA).
Something was going to happen and something did. Between the October 1998 discovery of a CLA training camp by the Namibia Defence Force (NDF) and the August/September 1999 attacks by the Caprivians on government installations, matters moved quickly.
Then president, Sam Nujoma, declared a state of emergency and the NDF moved in, crushing the rebellion amidst reports of random beatings, torture and murders. Even today, rumours persist of mass graves, although humanitarian agencies have yet to verify these.
An estimated 3,000 Caprivians, including military and political leaders of the rebels, supporters, sympathisers and ordinary villagers, found themselves trapped, hunted and in danger.
The only place to run to was east to Botswana, but the perils were high.
“It was a very tough journey,” explains Bothman Ntesa, a Caprivian who for the past 17 years has lived at the Dukwi Refugee Camp.
“We had to cross the river (Chobe River) with all the animals in there. Some took four to five days in the bush before they could cross.
“There was no opportunity to say ‘let me take a chance, maybe there are no crocodiles there.’
“The security forces were at the border making sure people don’t cross into Botswana.” Ntesa’s compatriot and fellow Dukwi resident, Felix Kakula takes up the tale.
“People were risking crossing at night when the security forces were asleep,” he says.
“Others were shot at, with the bullets going through their bags. Others were caught and taken back to Caprivi. “It was not an easy thing. Those who managed to cross the river, also had to face the lions.
“We praise God because no one lost their lives running to Botswana.” Ntesa and Kakula, together with Tyson Mujela and Mushe Limbo are on a rare visit to Gaborone, from Dukwi. Last Friday, the quartet was at the Lobatse High Court where acting Judge Jennifer Dube gave a final judgment in the refugees’ fight to resist repatriation to Namibia. Threats of violence, persecution and even worse, still prevail in Namibia, the refugees argue. While Windhoek has emphatically said there are no threats for returnees, the fact that the refugees are still pushing for secession under the now banned UDP, mean such promises may be untenable.
Further complicating matters is that some of the plus-900 Namibian refugees at Dukwi are former armed combatants in the 1999 conflict and continue to demand separation from Namibia.
The four men recall that the first group to cross into Botswana consisted of 92 people who were CLA fighters, still armed with their weapons. Another 102 followed, who consisted of the political leaders, including Caprivi independence leader and UDP founder, Mishake Muyongo.
“The first group that crossed handed over their arms to Botswana soldiers at the borders, before being transported to Linyanti. From there, they went to Mahalapye and then the Kagisong Centre in Gaborone,” says Ntesa.
According to Kakula, Botswana as a destination was an instinctively natural choice for the fleeing Caprivians.
“Namibia and Botswana are neighbours and we knew that Botswana was aware of what was happening in the Caprivi Strip. When they saw us come running, they knew there was a problem,” he says.
The 3,000 or so Caprivians settled into Dukwi and over the years, more than 2,000 returned to their motherland. Today, the four men estimate more than 1,000 Caprivians are still in Dukwi, who include young children born in the camp. The refugees have built their own community within the camp, an extension of the Caprivi Strip and a kind of state within a state. For 16 years, through their generations, the Caprivians at Dukwi could only dream of their heartland and then last year, five of them took part in a historic mission back to Caprivi Strip to assess conditions for the purposes of repatriation. The refugees had long resisted participating in previous proposals for such missions, citing fear for their security, but last year, with the nudging of government and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, they finally gave in.
The mission, however, was a disaster with the refugees sent back abruptly reported under armed escort for politicising the assessment and a minister later singling out and blasting Kakula in the Namibian parliament.
According to the quartet, the Go and See, Come and Tell mission was to assess the social, economic and political environment and whether repatriation was without any threats on these three fronts.
“We could not assess for social and economic because we don’t know them,” said Kakula.
“We told them that we fled for political reasons and that’s what we would assess. We asked whether as UDP members we could come back and they said as long as we were UDP, we could not come back.
“It was a must that we ask these questions but they felt offended.”
According to publicly available statements, Namibian authorities cut the mission short and ordered the refugees, who include Kakula and Mujela, out of the country.
Kakula remembers the episode differently.
“We were told to pack and go before 1000hrs. From the governor’s chambers, where the order was given, we rushed to Mukusi Cabin (a lodge) and packed our bags.
“We were in the company of the Botswana government delegation and (Defence permanent secretary Augustine) Makgonatsotlhe accompanied us for our safety.
“We drove in our vehicle straight to the border under heavy, armed NDF escort.
“At the border, the soldiers were all over. We signed our papers and the soldiers continued with their escort until the Botswana border.”
“Makgonatsotlhe returned for further meetings with the Namibian government.”
The first visit back since the treacherous crossing 16 years before, had ended in more terror for the refugees.
Going forward, the Caprivians plan to continue lobbying SADC to initiate dialogue with the Namibian government.
The refugees are weary of conflict.