| Caprivi Liberation Army | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Mishake Muyongo |
| Dates of operation | 1994–present |
| Country | Namibia |
| Ideology | Caprivi Strip independence |
Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA) is a Namibian rebel and separatist group which was established in 1994 to separate the Caprivi Strip, a region mainly inhabited by the Lozi people. It operates only in the Caprivi strip.
The Caprivi Strip is located in far northeast of Namibia. The region is a panhandle of Namibia eastwards about 450 km, between Botswana on the south, Angola and Zambia to the north, and Kavango Region. During the "Scramble for Africa" period, Great Britain ceded the territory to Germany in order for the latter to have access to the Zambezi River and to reach its other colonies in east Africa while keeping possession of German South-West Africa.
The Caprivi strip was of strategic military importance. It saw continual military actions and multiple incursions by various armed forces using the Strip as a corridor to access other territories. Those military actions were mainly handled by many South African factions during the Rhodesian Bush War (1970–1979). It was also a battlefield for the African National Congress and SWAPO operations against the South African government (1965–1994) and the UNITA operations during the Angolan Civil War.
The front was created in February 1994 as a separatist group under the goal of joining the Lozi people, who are present in neighbouring Botswana, Zambia, and Angola, together. [1] Since 1998 it has been under the leadership of Mishake Muyongo who has been expelled from the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia (DTA) as a result of his support for the secession of his home region.
In August 1999 the CLA launched many surprise attacks on police stations and many military posts in Katima Mulilo before the Namibian government imposed a state of emergency in the eastern part of the Caprivi Strip and beat the rebels. Fourteen rebels were reported dead and as many as 200 were arrested and jailed. [2] Most of them are still [update] in custody as trial-awaiting prisoners in the Caprivi treason trial.
The last military ambush was executed in September 1999 where three members were killed in a shoot-out. [2] The leader Muyongo was granted asylum in Denmark. [3]
The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990.
The Zambezi Region is one of Namibia's fourteen regions, situated in the north-eastern part of the country along the Zambezi River where it gets its name from. The region's capital is the town of Katima Mulilo. The Katima Mulilo Airport is 18 kilometres south-west of the town, while the village of Bukalo is located 43 kilometres south-east of Katima Mulilo. Formerly known as the Caprivi Region until 2013, it has eight electoral constituencies and a population of 142,373 according to the 2023 census.
The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is bordered 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 150 m (490 ft) of Zimbabwe, thus nearly forming a quadripoint.
The Cuando River is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip and into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana. Below the swamp, the river is called the Linyanti River and, farther east, the Chobe River, before it flows into the Zambezi River.
Katima Mulilo or simply Katima is the capital of the Zambezi Region in Namibia. It had 46,401 inhabitants in 2023, and comprises two electoral constituencies, Katima Mulilo Rural and Katima Mulilo Urban. It is located on the B8 national road on the banks of the Zambezi River in the Caprivi Strip in lush riverine vegetation with tropical birds and monkeys. The town receives annual average rainfall of 654 millimetres (25.7 in).
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic Front, it formed the official opposition in Parliament until the parliamentary elections in 2009. The party currently holds 16 seats in the Namibian National Assembly and one seat in the Namibian National Council and is the official opposition. McHenry Venaani is president of the PDM.
Barotseland is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of north-western province, southern province, and parts of Lusaka, Central, and Copperbelt provinces of Zambia and the whole of Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province. It is the homeland of the Lozi people or Barotse, or Malozi, who are a unified group of over 46 individual formerly diverse tribes related through kinship, whose original branch are the Luyi (Maluyi), and also assimilated Southern Sotho tribe of South Africa known as the Makololo.
The Caprivi conflict was an armed conflict between the Namibian government and the Caprivi Liberation Army, a rebel group that waged a brief insurrection in 1999 for the secession of the Caprivi Strip.
Albert Mishake Muyongo is a Namibian politician and former Member of Parliament who is currently living in exile in Denmark.
The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the South African Border War. Throughout its history, PLAN had both irregular insurgent and semi-conventional units, as well as an extensive recruitment network in rural South West Africa (Namibia). During the war most of its domestic activities consisted of mine warfare and acts of sabotage. PLAN initially lacked any standing units, and the bulk of operations were carried out by political exiles who spent cyclical periods residing in refugee camps in neighbouring states before launching raids inside South West Africa itself. By the end of the war, PLAN had 32,000 militants under arms, including three battalions of semi-conventional troops equipped with heavy weapons.
Angolan–Namibian relations relate to the relations between the governments of the Republic of Angola and the Republic of Namibia.
John Mabuku was the governor of Caprivi Region in Namibia and secessionist supporter of an independent Caprivi Strip. Mabuku, a former Democratic Turnhalle Alliance National Council member, fled to exile in Botswana with former DTA leader Mishake Muyongo following a failed separatist revolt in 1998 in the Caprivi Strip against the Namibian government.
Victor Simunja is a Namibian politician. A member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Simunja was appointed to the National Assembly of Namibia in 2000 and served as Deputy Minister of Defense from 2000 to 2009. Simunja rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Namibian Defence Force prior to entering political office. He is a member of the Mafwe ethnic group, indigenous to the Caprivi Strip.
The Caprivi treason trial is a trial in which the Government of Namibia indicted 132 people for allegedly participating in the Caprivi conflict on the side of the Caprivi Liberation Army during a period between 1992 and 2002. They were charged with high treason, murder, sedition, and many other offences, altogether 278 counts of criminal conduct.
The Ikuhane people, also known as the Subiya or Subia, are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They are part of the larger Lozi ethnic group and have significant populations in Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia. Their language is known as the Kuhane language (Chikuhane) or the Subia language (Chisubia), but Silozi is used as the formal language in official, educational, and media contexts.
The United Democratic Party (UDP) is a political party in Namibia, representing mainly people from Eastern Caprivi and advocating for the secession of the Caprivi Strip.
The Caprivi Vision is a weekly published community newspaper in Namibia with content in English and Lozi. It is sold in the Caprivi Strip now Zambezi Region, Northern Regions of Namibia, in the capital Windhoek and other countries of the Southern Africa such as Botswana and Zambia. The Caprivi Vision was founded by Risco Mashete Lumamezi on 21 August 2000 as a student of the Polytechnic of Namibia, and its first edition was sold in Katima Mulilo on 30 April 2002.
Bwabwata National Park is a protected area in northeastern Namibia that was established in 2007 and covers 6,274 km2 (2,422 sq mi). It was created by merging Namibia's Caprivi Game Park and Mahango Game Park. It is situated in the Zambezi and Kavango East regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip. It is bounded by the Okavango River to the west and the Kwando River to the east. Angola lies to the north and Botswana to the south.
33 Battalion or the Eastern Caprivi Battalion, was a light infantry battalion that was part of the SWATF.
Boniface Bebi was a Mamili, or tribal king, of the Mafwe in Namibia, from 1987 to 1999. Born in Linyanti, South West Africa, he succeeded Richard Muhinda in 1987, as the sixth recorded King of the Mafwe. After being involved in the Caprivi conflict, in which autonomy was sought for the Lozi people of the Caprivi Strip, he fled for Botswana, which granted him political asylum, after which Denmark granted him and Mishake Muyongo political asylum. His first-born child, Hoster Bebi, died in 2000; he lost a son while in Danish exile.