SO, THERE WERE PLANS TO “TAKE HIM TO THE FRONT”? HOW MANY MORE WERE TAKEN THERE? Mishake Muyongo Vice President of the Caprivi African National Union—Vice President of SWAPO— Vice President of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance President of the DTA Party Tor Sellström: Humanitarian support is a question of human rights’ support. There were struggles within the struggle inside SWAPO. One is the Shipanga question—when you yourself lived in Zambia—and the other the so-called spy story in Angola in the 1980s. It is difficult to say to what extent the Nordic countries were knowledgeable about what happened, but do you think that they should have put their foot down in a tougher way? Mishake Muyongo: Certainly! I believe very strongly that the Nordic countries should have said: ‘Listen, we are giving you aid for humanitarian purposes. If you start detaining each other you can be sure that we cannot continue’. By so doing they would have driven some sense into some in the leadership of SWAPO. I know the Shipanga issue very well, because I was then in charge of the SWAPO office in Lusaka. When Shipanga was detained, a lot of my colleagues in SWAPO came to me and said: ‘Just hand him over so that we can take him to the front.’ ‘To the front’ meant that you were going to disappear. I said that I did not believe in that: ‘If we have a problem with him, why do we not ask the Zambian authorities to keep him. Meanwhile, maybe the UNHCR can negotiate his transfer to another country. If he remains in Zambia, he is going to create problems for us. Let him ask the UNHCR if they can find a place for him’. I personally asked the Zambian authorities to intervene with Nyerere so that he could take him to Tanzania. When Shipanga was in Tanzania, Sam Nujoma and others went there to say to Nyerere: ‘Why do you not release this man? Give him back to us’. Nyerere refused. Even now I respect that decision. Eventually, Shipanga had to be released and went to Europe. But when we had that crisis, Sweden—or the Nordic countries—should have said: ‘If this is the way you do your things, then you can forget about our assistance.’ They should have put their feet on the ground, saying: ‘Please, we believe in human rights. That is why we are helping you. We do not want you to turn against each other.’ It was worse in Angola. Until now we have been asking the Red Cross to give us information about what happened there. I still say to myself: ‘I think that the Swedes must help us. They are very much involved with SWAPO. They were helping the people in the different SWAPO camps. Obviously, they should know what happened’. Nobody is able to account for those people. I think that Sweden and the other Nordic countries missed the boat there. They should have helped us. We have over a thousand people unaccounted for. The names are there. Nobody knows where they are. Sweden—being very close to SWAPO in Angola—used to visit some of these camps. Can they not help? Even at this late hour? SWAPO is not going to say that they are bad friends. Not at all. They are friendly to SWAPO. Not because it is SWAPO, but because SWAPO is representing the people of this country. liberationafrica.se/intervstories/interviews/muyongo/?by-name=1
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:31:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015