PRESS RELEASE NR.01/UNITA/
C.P.C.P/2001

MEMORANDUM ON NON-COMPLIANCE BY THE MPLA 1975-1998

CARTA ABERTA AOS POVOS DE EXPRESSÃO PORTUGUESA

Okavango victims tortured by security forces* 

[By Brigitte Weidlich, Windhoek Observer] 

Innocent Namibian residents of the troubled Okavango region found themselves tortured on the suspicion they were either Unita members or illegal foreigners. Giving a shocking account was Mr. Masati Muyenga, who alleged he was held for one month by the Namibia Defense Force (NDF) at the Rundu military base and wrongly accused of illegally keeping a firearm and being a "Unita commander". 

Released in mid-February only, he and his brother were handed over to Angolan authorities at Calai, opposite Rundu, when they were issued with travel documents a week later and allowed to return to their village in the Ndiyona constituency east of Rundu. 

Speaking at a press conference convened by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), the tortured villager was still suffering psychologically and physically from his terrible experiences. 

Proof that it were indeed NDF members who inflicted the torture on him is a letter of the Swapo regional coordinator of April 12, 2001, that a meeting took place with the NDF commander of the Okavango region, Lieutenant Colonel Bernhard Nkawa, where the NDF battalion 202 is stationed, "that nobody should touch and interrogate" Mr. Muyenga until the commander made an announcement. 

Telling how he was hooked up "like meat" with his hands tied and beaten with sjamboks by NDF members till he bled profoundly, Mr. Muyenga, aged 48, told media representatives and diplomats how he became entrapped in web of cruelty. 

Mr. Masati Muyenga was chosen and officially appointed by the tribal chief of the Gcirico area, Chief Kassian Shiyambi, in the middle of last year to be the official informer at Ndiyona after apparently "a message of President Sam Nujoma "was relayed to the tribal authorities, that, in consent with the Namibian security forces, a man from each village in the unsafe areas of the Okavango region should be appointed to inform about movements of unknown people and possible banditry actions. All residents in the Gcirico area knew Mr. Muyenga and his duties and he was in close contact with the NDF and the paramilitary Special Field Force (SFF). 

He was apparently also a Swapo organizer in the area. He was paid 200-00 Namibia dollars per month by the NDF, the money reaching him via his bank account, he said, and that his payroll number allegedly given by the NDF was 7402. 

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr. Muyenga said that on November 18, 2000 he was informed that his wife, son and his sister were allegedly abducted by suspected Unite rebels. With an NDF patrol he went in a dugout to the Angola side where five footprints where visible, two of military boots, two of normal shoes and one barefoot. Those of his son could not be traced. He identified the two civilian footprints as those of the two missing women. "We followed the footprints and after a distance they led back to the river and we crossed over back into Namibia where we found their footsteps again," Mr. Muyenga recalled via the interpreter. They found clothes of the women. The NDF escort decided to return to Mr. Muyenga's house with a military vehicle. Arriving there, the villager was surprised to find his family members safe and sound. He mentioned that there was another villager, Mr. Peter Mokena, who often crossed into Angola and that the NDF was aware of that. 

Two days later, the informer was told that Mr. Mokena was missing and he duly reported that to the NDF base nearby. Mr. Muyenga skipped the happenings around this villager and continued that on January 17 this year a contingent of NDF soldiers came to his house accusing him of illegal possession of a firearm, an AK-47, but he said, he never had such a gun. 

He went on to say that the group of NDF members was unknown to him and they were apparently sent from Rondo. He was taken to the nearby temporary military base, where he knew the soldiers. None of those he knew there stood up for him. He was released on January 18, 2001. He was however picked up again and accused of possessing an illegal firearm and taken to the Rundu military base. "They tied my hands behind my back, then they hung me up on a hook like meat, stretched my legs apart and tied them separately and beat me with a sjambok and ordered me to reveal where the gun was hidden. They beat me for about five hours, till lunchtime. I urinated during the beating," Mr. Muyenga said through his interpreter. 

Later he was literally let off the hook, but nobody supported his mutilated body and he fell on the back of his head on the cement floor. On Saturday, January 20, 2001 he was supposed to be taken to his village to identify the place where the non-existing gun was supposed to be hidden. Mr. Muyenga pleaded not to waste government petrol, as there was no gun. He was however taken to the village and from there into Angola. 

With about twenty NDF soldiers taking him into Angola to a deserted village, Mr. Muyenga was supposed to fetch the alleged illegal gun from one of the huts. He was told that his own brother, Mr. Kosmos Kangombe and Mr. Peter Mukonda had informed the NDF of the firearm. He was threatened that he would have to dig his own grave with his bare hands. 

Apparently one of the NDF members, whose name was Kudumo Mukosho, according to the victim, threatened to kill him. Others allegedly said if they killed him it was easy for them to jut declare that they "killed another Unita bandit". Shots were fired over his head while he had to look for the gun in one of the deserted huts. 

He was then made to stand outside as if he was to be executed and an NDF soldier took aim at him and fired a shot, but missed, probably on purpose, just to scare him. After this the soldiers laid fire to the huts and then said "the old man", meaning Mr. Muyenga, deserved to be shot and killed. They spoke the local language of Rukwangali. 

During the ordeal however he overheard how one NDF member, Oshiwambo-speaking, told his colleagues that they should not continue with the torture and that the apprehended man was innocent in his view. 

The poor man was again taken to the military base at Rundu and put in custody, where he found his fellow villager, Mr. Peter Mukonda. On Tuesday, January 23, 2001 he was again hooked up and severely sjambokked, until he bled profoundly, according to him. He identified two of the NDF torturers as Frans and Shinguwe. While one of the soldiers applied the sjambok and stick, two others allegedly punched him with their fists. 

Mr. Muyenga alleged that, because he screamed with pain, first a beer bottle was pushed into his mouth. This was replace with paper and then with a cloth forced into his mouth. "While I was still hooked up, two soldiers put a rope round my neck, which they tied very tightly and then they threw me on the floor, where I fell unconscious. When I came by I realized I had defecated," he said in quiet tone of voice. 

No water was given to him and he was not given any medical treatment either. His one leg was today still in pain since then and gave him trouble, he said. On February 15, 2001 he was suddenly removed from the Rundu military base and handed over to the Angolan government forces, which had set up base at the military quarters at Rundu airport. The Namibian soldiers allegedly told their Angolan colleagues that Mr. Muyenga was a "Unita commander". 

His identity document and his passport were given by the NDF troops to the Angolan authorities, he said. From the airport he was taken to the Angolan consulate at Rundu, but he did not stay long there. "They told me they expected a visitor and that I must be brought to Calai, which was done," he said at the press conference. 

At Calai he was treated well and was released on February 21, 2001 and was free to come back to Namibia. His documents were still with the Angolan authorities, he said but at his village he was still left with his Namibian birth certificate. The Angolan authorities at Calai also issued the villager with a letter of authorization that he was free to pass, which was also supposed to be recognized "by all Namibian authorities". 

After negotiations with his tribal chief and the local Swapo office a meeting was set up on April 11, 2001 at Rundu between Mr. Shampapi Kavera, the regional coordinator of the Swapo party of the Okavango region and Lieutenant Colonel Bernhard Nkawa. This resulted in a handwritten clearing document, by Mr. Kavera, for Mr. Muyenga, who was presently residing in Angola to be left unharmed until the matter was resolved. 

Mr. Kosmos Kangombe was also apprehended and tortured by the NDF, he alleged, as he also could not produce the firearm the NDF were searching for. *Carried with permission of the Reporter-in-Chief of the Windhoek Observer newspaper.

Gesendet: Dienstag, 12. Dezember 2000 08:17 

Betreff: Rafael Marques free to travel again 

Angolan journalists Rafael Marques, Aguiar dos Santos and Antÿnio Freitas are free to travel again. In December 11 2000, Rafael Marques received a court ruling ordering the National Emmigration Police to lift the travel restrictions imposed in October 1999. 

Rafael Marques had submitted several appeals and petitions to the Provincial and Supreme courts, evoking that the restrictions to his freedom of movement were a violation of Articles 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 12 of the International Pact of the Civil and Political Rights, which are applied in Angola through Article 21 of the Constitutional Law. 

The court order was also extended to Aguiar dos Santos, director of the weekly newspaper "Agora", who had already been authorized to travel in June, though banned again in November 2000. As for Antÿnio Freitas, the editor of "Agora", he was acquitted during the trial in March 31 2000. Strangely, the travel restrictions were still in place against him as well. In his decision to lift the travel restrictions Judge Joaquim Cangato did not present further arguments. "I have the honor to request you (Director of the National Emmigration Police) to lift the travel restrictions pending against defendants Rafael Marques, Aguiar dos Santos and Antÿnio Freitas, " wrote Judge Joaquim Cangato. 

*Distributed by: Angolan Anti-Militarism Initiative for Human Rights - IAADH Berlin Germany 

E-mail:ari@ipn.de

Última actualização/Last update 10-05-2001