In December 1998, my daughter and I went on safari, flying to a relatively remote part of Botswana along the Caprivi Strip of Namibia. By that time, more than 2,000 Namibians had fled into Botswana from the Caprivi Strip area following a government crackdown against suspected separatists. That’s the background. Here’s the story:It was supposed to be a normal dawn game drive in search of lions, wild dogs, and other predators on their morning hunts.
But the tracker in our four-wheel drive vehicle spotted human footprints as we traveled along a dirt track running parallel to the Kwando river, a sluggish, crocodile and hippopotamus-infested stream that marks the border with Namibia in this part of Botswana, just north of the Okavango Delta.
The tracker and our guide were astonished. There were not supposed to be any humans here at all in this huge private game reserve -- outside of the staff and the few guests at a tented safari camp perched on the shore of a Kwando River lagoon.
But as we came around a clump of trees, we spotted a group of 15 people in the distance. As they turned and saw us, they all slowly raised their hands in the air in surrender -- only to lower them when they saw that instead of a Botswanan border patrol, we were just a small group of tourists.
The 15, some of them carrying small suitcases or other bags with personal possessions, were Namibian refugees from the Caprivi Strip, a narrow finger of land jutting east out of northern Namibia and bordering Angola, Botswana, and Zambia.
Our guide asked the refugees if they wanted to turn themselves over to the Botswanan Defense Force. When they said yes, he told them to stay where they were and called our safari camp on the vehicle's two-way radio. He asked the camp manager to radio the nearby Botswanan Defense Force post and to inform them of the Namibians' presence.
We later learned the Botswanans sent a truck to pick up the 15. It took them to the town of Maun for processing as refugees.
Since the end of October (1998), more than 1,400 Namibians from the Caprivi have been formally registered as asylum seekers in Botswana.
In addition, about 1,000 more Namibian san or bushmen have also fled across the border. But relief workers say most of these have not sought official refugee status and are instead staying informally with members of Botswana's san community.
The unexpected exodus began when a group of about 90 armed men came across the frontier, followed by a number of opposition political figures from the Caprivi. Namibian authorities later announced they had broken up a militant secessionist movement in the strip and were conducting mopping-up operations aimed at supporters of the group, which officials claimed received military training in an unnamed neighboring country.
Soon afterward, more Caprivi residents began to flee -- claiming persecution.
Aid workers say a majority of these refugees, like those seen by this correspondent at the border this month, are young men and women in their 20's who are unemployed and have had no advanced schooling. The aid workers say the refugees feel marginalized in the undeveloped Caprivi area and suggest they were sympathetic to the militants' secessionist goals.
Spokesmen for the Botswanan government and the UN refugee agency say the number of border-crossers from the Caprivi has slowly declined, but the flow is continuing on a daily basis. While their applications for asylum are being investigated, they have been promised they will not be forced to return to Namibia.
The political leaders and other militants among the refugees have been separated from the others and are being held at a special facility outside of the Botswanan capital, Gabarone.
Note: I’m going on vacation and, to be honest, I think I may just take a two week break from posting. But do check back now and then. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment