ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Refugee camp to be relocated

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Refugee camp to be relocated

WINDHOEK, 6 May (IRIN) - Despite objections, the Namibian government is to
go ahead with plans to relocate around 24,000 refugees to an ecologically
sensitive district occupied by the hunter-gatherer San community.

Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo said objections by donors who help feed
the refugees, mainly from war-ravaged Angola and the Democratic Republic of
Congo, would not stop his government from moving the refugees at the Osire
camp to M'kata. Osire is situated in central Namibia, 300 km north of
Windhoek.

However, a humanitarian source told IRIN on Monday that it was unlikely the
government would begin the relocation immediately.

"It's likely to be a long-term project, taking into consideration the costs
involved, they have to meet the conditions of a feasibility study that was
recently completed. The start up money alone would be US $10 million," the
source said. Money that will be hard to find given the reservations of the
donor community.

M'kata is about 200 km east of Grootfontein and is inhabited by around 6,000
San people, who live a hunter-gatherer way of life.

Ekandjo said Osire was built as a police detention camp before the country's
independence and no feasibility study had been done. Recently, refugees at
the camp have been accused of illegal activities such as poaching at
neighbouring commercial farms.

"We know that the donors are opposed to the move. I am planning a meeting
between the donors and the farmers whose animals are being killed. Just
because they [donors] give food, they can't have a final say. That is a
cheap argument. We are going to move it [the camp]," Ekandjo said.

The Namibian government announced that it planned to relocate the refugees
last year.

Environmentalists and the resident San community are worried that swamping
M'kata with about 24,000 refugees would derail community-based game
management projects. Water resources, already scarce, would also come under
further strain.

There are fears that the local bush will be destroyed, disrupting the San's
food supplies. The community at M'kata depends heavily on the veld for game
meat, tubers, wild nuts and berries.

The Commissioner for Refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs Elizabeth
Negumbo said the international community had an obligation to assist host
countries to maintain, protect and look after refugees.

But the humanitarian source told IRIN that the same international community
that was being asked to fund the relocation had voiced its concern for
several reasons.

"There's already investment at Osire that would be rendered useless in the
event of relocation," the source said.

"It would be very costly to establish a new camp. Donors have expressed
concern that the area chosen is designated for a minority group and the
rights of this minority group were supposed to be protected. Putting
refugees there would mean the San would lose their hunter-gatherer
lifestyle," the aid worker added.

But government has been firm in its stance that Osire was not meant to be a
permanent camp.

The source said a major concern of the government was that "for security
reasons the camp was too close to urban centres".

There was also concern that the camp was being used for recruiting and other
purposes by both sides in the Angolan conflict.

On average about 300 refugees arrive at Osire every month with no decrease
since the Angolan peace deal was signed in April.

[ENDS]

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