The spilling over of the Angolan civil war into Namibia has led to a marked escalation of human rights abuses in the volatile border areas, Amnesty International said in a report published today. Tension has also increased in northeastern Namibia as a result of the Namibian government's crackdown in the eastern Caprivi region against suspected members of the Caprivi Liberation Army who are agitating for independence. A few days later journalists crossed into Angolan territory to where they believed the gunfire had come from, near the village of Halukombe. There they found, and filmed six decomposing bodies. In another incident on 22 January, FAA soldiers operating in Mushangara, Namibia surrounded Thaddeus Mubili, a game warden, and one of them shot him dead.
Refugees fleeing the fighting in Angola face an uncertain fate in Namibia.
Men have been deliberately separated from families and in some cases seem to have 'disappeared'. They said they feared that the men may have been handed over to the Angolan army. Amnesty International received other reports that the FAA has taken refugee men from Osire to a military barracks in Cunene province, Angola, to be conscripted into the army. The Namibian security forces, including the SFF, have also committed human rights violations against the population in the Caprivi Strip. Many of the 300 people arrested in connection with the attack by the Caprivi Liberation Army on the regional capital, Katima Mulilo, on 2 August 1999 are reported to have been beaten and tortured.