CLIMATE – DRIVEN drought is pushing thousands of Angolans, mainly women and children, into Namibia where they face harsh treatment and forcible return, Amnesty International said Wednesday. Several provinces in southern Angola have been hit hard by recurring drought, worsened by El Nino, a weather pattern associated with hotter and drier conditions, it said.
Between January and July 2021, more than 7,000 Angolans — mainly women, children and older people — entered northern Namibia after years of severe drought and food insecurity, Amnesty said.
Cross-border movement has continued since then, including during renewed severe drought conditions in 2023 and 2024, but the scale of drought-related displacement had not been properly recorded, it said. The report, entitled “The Drier it Gets, the Longer You Have to Walk, the Deeper You Have to Dig: The Human Rights Impacts of Drought-Induced Displacement on Angolan Women and Children in Namibia”, said displaced Angolans lived in poor conditions in Namibia, including without shelter or in overcrowded makeshift structures built from branches, plastic and cardboard.
AFP
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