Drought bites southern Angola, eyes turn to Namibia

Drought and food insecurity continue to push people from southern Angola into Namibia, with Amnesty International warning that those crossing the border face inadequate shelter, limited access to healthcare and the risk of arrest, detention and deportation.

In a report released last week, the organisation said there were few safe and legal pathways for people displaced by drought to remain in Namibia, leaving some vulnerable to being returned without their individual protection needs being assessed.

Amnesty said it interviewed at least 167 people between May 2024 and May 2026, including displaced Angolans, community leaders, government officials, civil society organisations and academics.

Amnesty's report said more than 1 000 Angolan nationals had been returned to Angola this year alone after being found in Namibia without regular immigration status.

One incident highlighted in the report occurred in Opuwo on 4 June 2025, when Amnesty said about 40 Angolan nationals, including women and children, were rounded up at a community centre and transported more than 100 km to the Ruacana border for handover to Angolan authorities.

According to Amnesty, the group was returned without individual screening to determine whether anyone required asylum or another form of protection.

The organisation said this raised concerns about whether people were being returned without proper assessment of the risks they could face in Angola.

Years of drought

The latest findings follow years of movement from drought-affected parts of southern Angola into northern Namibia.

Amnesty said more than 7 000 Angolans, mainly women, children and older people, crossed into Namibia between January and July 2021 following consecutive years of severe drought and food insecurity.

Cross-border movement continued during subsequent drought conditions, although Amnesty said the true scale remained unknown because there was no comprehensive system to register people displaced by drought.

The issue has also been visible through the repeated arrival of Angolan children in Namibian towns.

In May 2024, 73 Angolan children and their mothers were repatriated to Angola, while further repatriations followed as authorities sought to address the presence of Angolan street-connected children in Namibia.

In June this year, government said 700 Angolan street children had been repatriated, against a target of 1 724. Reports of new groups appearing in towns including Windhoek, Oshakati and Swakopmund have since continued.

Amnesty said the repeated movement showed that repatriation alone did not address the conditions driving people from Angola.

Shelter and healthcare

According to the report, some displaced Angolans live in makeshift shelters made from branches, plastic and cardboard.

Others face barriers to healthcare and other basic services because of their immigration status.

Amnesty is calling on Namibia to adopt a rights-based approach that allows people displaced by drought to be registered and documented, while ensuring individual assessments are conducted before deportation.

It is also calling on Angola to strengthen drought preparedness through improved water infrastructure, early-warning systems, social protection and support for rural livelihoods.

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