Namibia: The Caprivi Liberation Front (CLF): its goals and methods; whether its members have been arbitrarily detained, beaten or otherwise mistreated by the police (August 1999 - March 2001)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 19 March 2001 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | NAM36458.E |
| Reference | 7 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Namibia: The Caprivi Liberation Front (CLF): its goals and methods; whether its members have been arbitrarily detained, beaten or otherwise mistreated by the police (August 1999 - March 2001), 19 March 2001, NAM36458.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be774.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The Website of the Federation of American Scientists states:
The majority of the 100,000 population of Caprivi [the Caprivi Strip, a narrow strip of land in the far northeast of Namibia] are Lozi-speaking and share a common history and culture with Lozis across the border in Zambia. Most of the Lozi – an ethnic group of 556-thousand people– live in western Zambia, while some 70-thousand live in northwest Zimbabwe, 14-thousand in northern Botswana and 17-thousand in the Caprivi. These areas made up their ancestral Kingdom known as Barotseland.
The Lozi in eastern Caprivi do not identify with the rest of the Namibian population and in 1994 formed the Caprivi Liberation Front, which began campaigning for a measure of autonomy to pursue closer ties with the Lozi in western Zambia. Leaders of the Caprivi nationalist movement have met with Zambia's separatist Barotse Patriotic Front. ...
In 1998 the Namibian Government said it had located a military training camp run by the Caprivi Liberation Front, and with the discovery 15 Front officials fled to Botswana. In August 1999 the Namibian Government imposed a state of emergency in the eastern part of the Caprivi Strip. That government action came after at least fifteen people were killed in an attack by members of the Caprivi Liberation Front on a military base, police station and other installations in the small town of Katima Mulilo. It is estimated that between 300 and 600 people have been detained on suspicion of ties with the separatist Caprivi Liberation Army (17 Dec. 1999).
A 28 January 2000 Financial Mail article states:
In August last year Mishake Muyongo's secessionist movement, the Caprivi Liberation Front (CLF), launched an armed assault on government installations in Katima Mulilo, the Caprivi regional capital. Though the insurrection was rapidly, and over-zealously, put down by government, rumours abounded that the CLF had been trained and supported by Unita, and it was alleged that some of those captured were indeed members of Unita.
In a 7 August 1999 RFI article, Mishake Muyongo, the leader of the VLF, stated:
Our political manifesto is firstly to establish an independent Caprivi, a democratic one, where the people have the free will to choose whatever or whoever governs them. We don't want to be an appendix of Namibia, I repeat, we don't want to be an appendix of Namibia, and that's why we're fighting. We want – [changes thought] in most cases – let me correct one thing – people have been saying we are seceding. We are not seceding from Namibia. We have always been Caprivians, and Caprivi has always been an independent entity on its own. We only came together with the people of Namibia and we were fighting for freedom.
A 1 March 2000 Amnesty International report provides the following information on the August 1999 fighting and the government reaction that followed:
The Namibian security forces are reported to have beaten and tortured many of those arrested in connection with the attack on Katima Nuliolo on 2 August 1999. The CLA was officially reported to have aimed attacks at the police headquarters, the Mpacha Defence Force base, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation building and the Wenela immigration post. Initially it was reported that 14 people had been killed during the fighting but later it was confirmed that seven had died. On the same evening President Nujoma declard a state of emergency which lasted until 26 August.
The response to the attacks by members of both the army and the police included torture. Of the more than 300 people arrested, most complained of torture at the time of their arrest and during interrogation. In some of the worst torture cases, injuries were documented in medical reports. They were also documented by defence lawyers who took photographs. During bail hearings in September and October 1999, several of the detainees took off their shirts in court to show clearly visible marks which they claimed were the results of torture. By the end of January 2000, 35 others who had been released uncharged had filed complaints of torture and demands for compensation. Three police officers who had been named by many detained as perpetrators of the torture were still on duty in late February.
On January 24, the 111 people detained on suspicion of committing high treason and four others who had been released on bail, appeared before the High Court in Grootfontein. They were remanded in custody until 31 July pending further investigations.
A 2 February 2001 press release of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), which is "a Namibian private, paralegal, non-profit, and non-party political human rights organization monitoring and advocating compliance with both national laws and International treaties regarding civil, cultural, economic, environmental, political and social rights," states:
NSHR was informed that John Tibiso MASAKE, a recent and previously unknown Caprivi secessionist suspect, was said to have been tortured before he alone pleaded guilty to all charges before Magistrate Harris Salionga on January 22, 2001, in the Grootfontein Magistrate's Court. According to a very reliable source this suspect is not held in Grootfontein prison and his present whereabouts are not known.
On January 23, 2001, we were also informed by five Caprivi suspects that they themselves were subjected to beatings and attempted bribery in order to confess. An amount of N$2000 was promised for the video taping of a confession. N$5000 was allegedly promised as a payment for their cooperation and they were to be released.
Our monitors have also learnt that this group of five were taken last year to Katima Mulilo for unknown motives, perhaps as an attempted bribe to"go shopping" and collect "gifts" from their families. The five stated that they are now fearful of the police since the attempted bribe did not succeed as they pleaded not guilty.
The wives of at least three suspects have been approached by investigators to give testimony against their husbands. ...
NSHR is concerned that these suspects may not receive a fair trial bearing in mind the torture that surrounded so many arrests, the impunity of the torturers, the politically charged nature of treason accusations and the twenty month delay in court proceedings.
A 7 February 2001 NSHR press release states:
NSHR has been informed that arrests in the Caprivi Region connected to the August 1999 Katima Mulilo secessionist attack are still taking place. Francis KAKONA (a senior citizen) was arrested on January 29, 2001, in the Musanga area some 10km east of Katima Mulilo (1300km north-east of the capital Windhoek). NSHR appreciates the difficulties for the investigating team, but after 18 months, people (especially from the Mafwe tribe) in the said region are still living in a state of fear, as anyone could be named a secessionist supporter or sympathiser and may then be arrested for high treason. There are 134 suspects who have been languishing in prison for the last one and a half years, all of whom must be presumed innocent and some of whom may well be completely innocent. ...
Legal fees are crippling those families lucky enough to have any funds, but as the delays continue even they will soon lose their legal representation. With the serious charge of high treason, most detainees would not trust government appointed lawyers, as the animosity towards these suspects from ruling party loyalists is common knowledge. Hence, some may not be represented at this most serious of trials.
No additional information on the goals and methods of the CLF in Namibia, nor on whether its members have been mistreated by the police, could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Amnesty International. 1 March 2000. "Angola and Namibia. Human Rights Abuses in the Border Area."
Federation of American Scientists (FAS) [Washington]. 17 December 1999. "Caprivi Liberation Front."
Financial Mail [London]. Tristan McConnell. 28 January 2000. "In the Crossfire of an Expanding Conflict." (NEXIS)
National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) [Windhoek]. 7 February 2001. "Press Release: Caprivi Arrests Still Continue."
_____. 2 February 2001. "Press Release: Caprivi Suspects: Forced Confession and Family Harassed."
Radio France International (RFI). 7 August 1999. "Caprivi Separatist Leader Says Armed Struggle Against Namibian Rule Will Go On." (BBC Summary 9 Aug. 1999/NEXIS)
Additional Sources Consulted
IRB databases
NEXIS/LEXIS
Internet sites including:
AllAfrica.com
Amnesty International
Centre for Security Studies and Conflict Research
Project Ploughshares
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
World News Connection