Angolans in Namibia
Encyclopedia
Migration history
As AngolaAngola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
are neighbours, there has historically been a great deal of cross-border movements between the two countries. There were formerly large numbers of immigrants from southeast Angola at Mangarangandja and Sarasungu, east of Rundu
Rundu
Rundu is the capital of the Kavango Region, northern Namibia, on the border with Angola on the banks of the Okavango River about 1000 m above sea level. The place normally receives an annual average rainfall of , although in the 2010/2011 rainy season were measured.Rundu grows rapidly...
along the Okavango River
Okavango River
The Okavango River is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins in Angola, where it is known as the Cubango River...
; however, they were relocated to Kaisosi and Kehemu in the 1970s. These early migrants tend to identify themselves as "Nyemba
Nyemba
Nyemba/ Nyembas or Vanyemba is a label applied by the Kavango people of northern Namibia to the immigrants from Angola fleeing the Angolan Civil War....
". Many early migrants were of Ovambo ethnicity, an ethnic group found on both sides of the border.
In 1989, as Namibia prepared to form a new independent government and Namibians in self-imposed exile in Angola returned to their homeland, hundreds of Angolans, including Angolans of Portuguese descent
Portuguese Angolans
Portuguese Angolan is a person of Portuguese descent born or permanently living in Angola.-History:The first Portuguese settlements in Angola were established in the 16th century. Some Portuguese settlers married native Africans resulting in a mixed-race population...
, came along with them, fleeing renewed fighting in the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
. The number of Angolan refugees had grown to 2,069 by 1996 and to 7,612 by 1999. Roughly 2,300 of those lived at Kahenge
Kahenge
Kahenge is a village in Kavango Region, Namibia. Located 130 km west of Rundu, it is located in the Kahenge Constituency.-References:...
in the border area, with another 5,000 at Osire
Osire
Osire is a refugee camp in central Namibia, situated 200 km north of the capital Windhoek on the main road C30 from Gobabis to Otjiwarongo. Established in 1992 the refugee population of Osire stood at 6.500 in 2010 after having reached a peak of 20.000 in 1998...
near Otjiwarongo
Otjiwarongo
Otjiwarongo is a city of 20,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital of Otjozondjupa....
in central Namibia. Efforts that year by the Namibian government to move newly-arriving refugees away from the border area to Osire camps were not well received; new arrivals preferred to remain in areas where they had familial and ethnic ties, despite the danger of attack from Angola and the poor facilities in the camp at Kahenge. At the peak in 2001, statistics of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
(UNHCR) showed 30,881 Angolan refugees in the country. Between January and July 2004, 7,035 Angolans who had taken refuge in Namibia during the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
had returned to Angola; the UNHCR aimed to repatriate a total of 14,000 that year. By 2005, the number of Angolan refugees remaining in the country had dropped sharply to 4,666 people.
Though even during the period of conflict, the border remained fairly permeable, the return of peace saw an increase in border crossings. Between 1999 and 2003, the number of foreign citizens arriving from Angola at the Oshikango
Oshikango
Oshikango is a village in northern Namibia and a border post to Angola. Since 2004 it is part of the town of Helao Nafidi but still maintains its own village council. It is the district capital of the Oshikango Constituency...
border post nearly doubled from 143,992 to 267,504. The flow of Angolans into Namibia is much larger than the reverse flow of Namibians into Angola. Most cross the border on business or for visiting family members for short-term trips; only about 9% of these border-crossers stay in Namibia longer than six months. Some young labour migrants also cross the border from Angola into Namibia for temporary or seasonal work, especially on Namibian farms.