|
Special Field Force
The Special Field Force (SFF) is a Namibian Police Force paramilitary police unit created in 1995 by the late commissioner Ruben "Danger" Ashipala as an auxiliary aggressive unit to complement the Special Reserve Force (SRF). It encompasses border guards, VIP Protection Unit and Installation unit. Approximately half of the Namibian Police's (NAMPOL) overall complement is assigned to the SFF which is made up primarily of combatants from the former People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF). Among the population the Special Field Force is seen as the less educated and more brutal wing of the Namibian Police. They have been implicated in the intimidation, assault, torture and also murder of civilians in the secessionist uprisings in Namibia's Caprivi Strip in 1998 and 1999. Also later, under normal and calm political conditions, human rights groups accused the Special Field Force of several atrocities, e.g.: * 2002 in May officers of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although Kazungula, it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres (660 feet) of the Botswanan right bank of the Zambezi, Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth of Nations. The driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia has been inhabited since pre-historic times by the San people, San, Damara people, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigration, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centre For Conflict Resolution
The Centre for Conflict Resolution is a social research institute of the University of Cape Town. It was founded in 1968 by Professor H.W. van der Merwe in Cape Town, South Africa, to conduct academic research on relations between "racial" groups, with the goal of promoting mutual acceptance and co-operation. Initially named the Abe Bailey Institute for Inter-Racial Studies after the original funding organisation, the Abe Bailey Trust, the Institute was renamed the Centre for Intergroup Studies in 1973. During the 1980s this organization was attempting to address conflict resolution resulting from the South African policy of apartheid. Since 1990 the Centre is known as the Centre for Conflict Resolution. The Centre is currently housed in the Coornhoop, a 17th century farmhouse at 2 Dixton Road in Observatory, Cape Town Observatory is a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa, colloquially known as Obs. Bordered by Mowbray to the south and Salt River to the northwest, the area i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramilitary Organisations Based In Namibia
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carry out duties that a country's military or police forces are unable or unwilling to handle. Other organizations may be considered paramilitaries by structure alone, despite being unarmed or lacking a combat role. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not a military, it is usually equivalent to a light infantry force in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use "military" equipment (such as long guns and armored personnel carriers; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government Of Namibia
The government of Namibia consists of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary branches. The Cabinet is the executive organ of government, implementing the laws of the country. It consists of the president, the prime minister and his deputy, as well as the ministers. The legislative organs of government are the National Council and the National Assembly. They make the laws of the country. The judiciary organs of government are the courts. The highest court of Namibia is the Supreme Court. There are also the high courts and lower courts. The Namibian government is partly centralised and partly regional. In the executive branch, central government consists of ministries, offices and agencies, whereas regional government consists of regional councils, and constituencies within these. The legislation is centralised in the lower house (National Assembly), and regional in the upper house (National Council). The judiciary is centralised in the Supreme Court, whereas high cour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independent Online (South Africa)
''Independent Online'', popularly known as ''IOL'', is a news website based in South Africa. IOL serves the online versions of a number of South African newspapers, including ''The Star'', ''Pretoria News'', '' The Daily Voice'', ''Cape Times'', ''Cape Argus'', ''Weekend Argus'', '' The Mercury'', ''Post'', ''Diamond Fields Advertiser'', ''Isolezwe'', ''Daily Tribune'', ''Sunday Tribune'', ''The Independent on Saturday'', and '' The Sunday Independent''. Corporate affairs Ownership Sekunjalo Investments owns 55% of the company via its subsidiary Sekunjalo Independent Media, the Public Investment Corporation of South Africa owns 25%, and two Chinese state-owned enterprises (China International Television Corporation and the China Africa Development Fund) own the remaining 20% of the newspaper. China International Television Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). Before 2013, IOL was owned by the Independent News & M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mariental, Namibia
Mariental is a city of 10,000 inhabitants in south-central Namibia, lying on the B1 national road north of Keetmanshoop and southeast of Windhoek. It lies at an elevation of . Mariental is connected to the TransNamib railway line from Windhoek to Keetmanshoop. The town and the surrounding area are in a hot, arid region. Mariental is the administrative capital of the Hardap Region in an area which has long been a centre for the Nama people. It lies near the Hardap Dam, the largest reservoir in Namibia. History Named by local Rhenish (German Lutheran) missionaries, the town was founded in 1912 as a railway stop between Windhoek and Keetmanshoop and named after Maria, the wife of the first colonial settler of the area, Hermann Brandt. It is home to the oldest Dutch Reformed church congregation in Namibia, founded in 1898. It was proclaimed a town in 1920 and a municipality in 1946. Mariental is home to a large number of Nama-speaking people, descendants of the early Khoi inhab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Of Namibia
The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) comprises the national military forces of Namibia. It was created when the country, then known as South West Africa, gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Chapter 15 of the Constitution of Namibia establishes the NDF and defines its role and purpose as, ''" ... to defend the territory and national interests of Namibia"''. Namibia's military was born from the integration of the formerly belligerent People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), military wing of the South West African People's Organization, and the South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) – a security arm of the former South African administration. The British formulated the force integration plan and began training the NDF, which consists of five battalions and a small headquarters element. The United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG)'s Military of Kenya, Kenyan infantry battalion remained in Namibia for three months after independence to assist in training ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okahao
Okahao is a town in the Omusati Region of northern Namibia and the district capital of the Okahao electoral constituency. It is situated in the Ongandjera tribal area west of Oshakati on the main road MR123 (Outapi — Tsandi — Okahao). It is a former mission station of the Finnish Missionary Society. The area around Okahao is flat, arable land which is mainly used for subsistence farming. Okahao is the largest town in Ongandjera, the birthplace of Namibia's founding president Sam Nujoma. History The first visit of Martti Rautanen to Ongandjera When the first Finnish missionaries had arrived to Omandongo in Ovamboland on 9 July 1870, they immediately took measures aiming at establishing a missionary presence in two other tribal areas also, that is, in Uukwambi and Ongandjera. Already four days later, Pietari Kurvinen, Martti Rautanen, Karl August Weikkolin and Antti Piirainen, left for Uukwambi, to the court of King Nayuma, where they arrived on July 16. And still wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and supporters around the world. The stated mission of the organization is to campaign for "a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments." The organization has played a notable role on human rights issues due to its frequent citation in media and by world leaders. AI was founded in London in 1961 by the lawyer Peter Benenson. Its original focus was prisoners of conscience, with its remit widening in the 1970s, under the leadership of Seán MacBride and Martin Ennals to include miscarriages of justice and torture. In 1977, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In the 1980s, its secretary general was Thomas Hammarberg, succeeded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LGBT Rights In Namibia
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender+ (LGBT+) persons in Namibia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not banned in Namibia, and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. However, despite the lack of legal rights experienced by Namibian LGBT citizens, acceptance and tolerance of LGBT people is much higher than in most African countries. The climate for LGBT people in Namibia has eased in recent years. The country's leading LGBT advocacy group is OutRight Namibia, formed in March 2010 and officially registered in November 2010. It has organised Namibia's first pride parades and seeks to be "a voice for lesbian women, gay men, bisexuals and transgender and intersex people in Namibia". Other LGBT groups include MPower Community Trust, which provides awareness of sexual health for gay and bisexual men, the Namibi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caprivi Strip
The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is surrounded by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a single point at the eastern tip of the Strip, which also comes within of Zimbabwe thus nearly forming a quadripoint. Botswana and Zambia share a border at the crossing of Kazungula. The territory was acquired by then-German South West Africa in order to provide access to the Zambezi River and consequently a route to the east coast of the continent and German East Africa. The route was later found not to be navigable because about east of the Caprivi Strip is Victoria Falls, one of the world's largest waterfalls. Within Namibia, the Strip is divided administratively between Kavango East and Zambezi regions. It is crossed by the Okavango River. The Cuando River forms part of its border with Botswana, and the Zambezi River forms a part of it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namibian Police Force
The Namibian Police Force (NAMPOL) is the national police force of Namibia. It was established by the Namibian Constitution and enacted by an act of Parliament of Namibia, Parliament. The Namibian Police Force replaced the South West African Police as the national police force of the country in 1990. Sebastian Ndeitunga was its inspector general since 2005 to 2022. Joseph Shikongo is the current IGP. NAMPOL's functions are overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs (Namibia), Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security. Organization The force is headed by an inspector general who holds the rank of lieutenant general. The inspector general is deputised by two deputy inspector generals who both hold the rank of major general. The two deputy inspector general are responsible for administration and operations. Divisions/directorates *Communications *Finance *Gender & Welfare *Human Resources *Internal Investigation *Procurement & Logistics *Training & Development *F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
