Lukato defends Dukwe refugees

National Democratic Party (NDP) president Martin Lukato says if Namibians living at the Dukwe refugee camp in Botswana were forcefully deported, it would be tantamount to a breach of international laws on the status of refugees.Lukato called upon the presidents of Botswana and Namibia to abide by international laws.Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi said during a meeting with President Hage Geingob this week that Namibians living at Dukwe were no longer regarded as refugees by his government, but as illegal immigrants. Concerted efforts by the Namibian government and the United Nations to repatriate the refugees and integrate them into society have had little success, with the remaining 880 of them refusing to return home.Thousands of people from the then Caprivi Region fled to Botswana in 1999 after a botched attempt to secede the region from Namibia. The Botswana High Court in January 2016 halted the deportation of the remaining 880 refugees after the deportation deadline of 31 December 2015 had passed. Masisi said his government would exhaust all avenues to ensure that the group left Botswana.“We will follow procedure and exhaust all we can. But you see they are not Batswana, they are Namibians. They are not refugees - they have become illegal immigrants.”Lukato said refugees at Dukwe should not be deported to Namibia if they were unwilling to return.“I am seriously advising these two state leaders that they should not attempt to violate the international laws when it comes to the status of refugees.”He said Masisi should not attempt to predict the outcome of a pending appeal by the refugees to the Botswana High Court against being deported.Lukato said if the Botswana government tried to deport the refugees to Namibia after the High Court ruling, under international law the refugees could seek refugee status in a third country because they had fled from their country of origin and “continue to flee as result of a war or economic situation”.“The United Nations high commissioner for refugees in Botswana will intervene and request a third country to receive and accommodate the exile refugees who have lost their refugee status in Botswana in accordance with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) treaty and act on behalf of their protection as stated in the UN treaty,” he said. According to Lukato refugees could only return voluntarily and not through forced deportation. NDP also appealed for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Namibia so that both the former South African apartheid government and the Swapo government could be brought before the commission. “Those who committed atrocities inside Namibia and outside during the liberation struggle of independence of Namibia and after independence of Namibia, they should publicly apologise to the victims,” Lukato said. ELLANIE SMIT

Lukato defends Dukwe refugees

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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Lukato defends Dukwe refugees

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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