Namibia
Namibian court protects ex-UNITA representative

afrol News, 22 February - Jose Domingos Sikunda is the former Namibian representative of the Angolan rebels UNITA, often labelled "terrorists". While the Namibian Ministry of Home Affairs had tried to evict Sikunda, now that Namibia sides with Angola against UNITA, the Supreme Court says Sikunda can stay.

The Namibian Society of Human Rights (NSHR) yesterday hailed the Supreme Court confirmation of High Court ruling last year that Jose Domingos Sikunda can neither be detained nor be deported by the Namibian Government as persona non grata.

On March 26, 2001, the High Court set aside the decision of the controversial Namibian Minister of Home Affairs, Jerry Ekandjo, declaring Sikunda a prohibited immigrant in Namibia and ordering his deportation. A month prior to such decision, Minister Ekandjo was convicted of contempt of court for refusing to carry out an earlier court order for Sikunda's release from detention.

The High Court also described as "draconian" part of a controversial immigration law used by the Government to designate unwanted foreigners as persona non grata and to order their deportation while denying them the right to be heard.

Sikunda has been in the spotlight for over one year. In March 2001, a crowd of close to 200 demonstrators of the SWAPO ruling party descended on the private home of Rafael Ngeve Sikunda son of Jose Sikunda, apparently after a public party meeting nearby. 

The mob leaders informed Rafael Sikunda's wife that they wanted "to enter the house and search for these men and bring them out to kill them as they are killing our people in Rundu." In Rundu, northern Namibia, several Namibians had died at the hands of Angolans after the Namibian government decided to openly support the Angolan army in the civil war.

The Sikunda family has been targeted by the SWAPO party as the scapegoat for all abuses in Namibia's north-east. While the governing party holds UNITA responsible for the killing of Namibians, it is generally perceived that the invited Angolan Forces are responsible for many of the abuses in the area, together with the Namibian Special Field Force, UNITA and common criminals. 

- Today's ruling by the country's highest court literally means that all persons who fall into the Sikunda category are lawful Namibian residents and, as such, cannot be detained or deported as prohibited immigrants, NSHR today said in a statement.

According to the local human rights group, one such person is Aurelio Samakupa, one of the close to 82 prisoners, held at Dordabis, some 100km southeast of the capital (Windhoek), since August 2000. 

Samakupa and other Dordabis detainees were rounded up in the volatile Kavango Region between June and August 2000 as what appears to be flimsy charges that they were "UNITA terrorists" and "collaborators".

NSHR claims that, before Samakupa was brought to Dordabis, he was tortured 'Lubango-style' for several days at the Rundu Military Base. "Three, two and one Oshiwambo-, Portuguese-, and Rukwangali-speaking persons, respectively, submerged his head in a bucket of cold water during interrogations. They were clad in civilian clothes." 

NSHR considers Samakupa and all other Dordabis detainees in the Sikunda category as political prisoners.
 

Sources:  Based on NSHR and afrol archives

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