Phil ya Nangoloh, director of the National Society for Human Rights, said they were being held at the Grootfontein military base in northern Namibia and could face disciplinary hearings. He said soldiers, all members of the Walvis Bay-based Fifth Battalion of the NDF, had been deployed at Omega, some 270 km east of border town of Rundu, at the time of their arrest early last week.
Any soldiers can object to fight in an undeclared war.
The Namibian army is made up entirely of volunteer professional soldiers. Article 21 of the Namibian constitution, Ya Nangoloh said, enshrined the right to freedom of thought and conscience. No steps should therefore be taken against such people because it looks as if they are conscientious objectors. He added the arrests were also linked to the fact that unlike men deployed in DRC, these soldiers would not receive compensation in case of injuries or death in Angola. The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.