Namibia - CountryWatch

Political Overview Political Conditions
Nujoma presented education, training, poverty, unemployment, landlessness and the HIV-AIDS crisis
as the major challenges facing his new government. However, the first act of his next five years in
office was to affirm direct support for the Angolan government's drive against UNITA. This impacted
security along the northern border, further affecting tourism (as seen in the brutal attack on French
tourists in January 2001 allegedly committed by UNITA rebels). Ramifications against development
programs are also a problem (as seen by the fact that UNITA rebels target hospitals and schools, and
lay anti-personnel landmines in fertile fields as well as on all major access roads). In December,
Defense Minister Erkki Nghimtina threatened to take action against UNITA forces if they crossed into
Namibian territory.
As an Angolan government offensive against UNITA pushed south, the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, or UNHCR, in Windhoek documented more than 2,300 refugees crossing into
Namibia. President Nujoma subsequently emphasized Namibia's support for the Angolan military's
latest drive against UNITA, unleashed from Bailundo into Cuando Cubango province on the Namibian
border.
The security situation in the Caprivi had severe domestic impact for SWAPO as opposition DTA members
accused President Nujoma of failing to consult the National Assembly when deciding to allow
Angolan troops access to Namibian territory.
By February 2000, the DTA suggested petitioning the European Union for a stoppage of aid to
Namibia because of the country's involvement in the Angolan civil conflict. Prominent church leaders
also met with President Nujoma to declare their opposition to any military option for ending the Angolan
war, instead suggesting further dialogue. The Nujoma administration has, however, been deaf to
such appeals for a negotiated settlement. In choosing the military option, the situation in the Caprivi is
bound to worsen given the fact that the NDF has no viable counter-insurgency capacity and its current
conventional warfare tactics are not producing the results against an enemy as adept as UNITA in guerrilla
warfare
Reports emerged of human rights violations during these combined operations. In late February 2000,
the U.S. Department of State reported that members of the security forces committed several extrajudicial
killings.
By February 2001, these operations continued to result in the intimidation and harassment of the local
peoples in the Caprivi as evinced by the refugees fleeing from the region into neighboring Botswana.
Furthermore, the government could not account for certain people detained by security forces. Security
forces also beat many suspects, both during arrest and while in custody in the Caprivi region. Namibian
citizens and Angolan refugees were reportedly beaten during security operations in both Kavango
and Caprivi.
In the first part of 2001, there were a number of problems confronting the Nujoma Administration. Primarily,
there was the land question. About 4,045 largely white commercial farmers own 30.5 million
hectares of land compared to the 2.2 million hectares owned by black largely subsistence farmers.
President Nujoma announced that he wanted to speed up land reform and deal with the question of
landless people by resettling over 200,00-people on 9.5 m illion hectares, which the state intended to
purchase from the white farmers. This would cost the state US$125 million that Nujoma hoped to raise
from foreign aid. However, having raised expectations, it was unclear what would happen should the
government not be able to raise the necessary funds.
Namibia Review 2013 14