20th September, 2019
Namibia is mobilising financial resources to reintegrate 3,000 of its citizens, who were last week repatriated by Botswana, a senior government official said Friday.
Botswana decided to repatriate the Namibians after offering them many chances to voluntarily return home in previous years without any success.
Commissioner of Refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, Likius Valombola, said the Namibian Government was ready to accommodate their citizens, who returned from a self-imposed exile.
“The government has raised funds to accommodate them and they are part of us, although some of them were born in Botswana,’’ he said.
The returning refugees fled Namibia between 1998 and 1999 after attempts by a group of insurgents to secede the Caprivi region in the northeast part of the country, now known as the Zambezi Region.
The insurgencies caused unrest forcing many to flee to Botswana in search of refuge.
The Namibian government used its military and special forces to squash the revolt.