Displaced Angolans face serious abuses in Namibia. An Amnesty International investigation, conducted between May 2024 and May 2026, documented severe human rights violations against Angolan citizens seeking refuge in Namibia due to extreme drought in their country's south. Researchers collected testimonies from at least 167 people, including refugees, community leaders, academics, and local officials. Namibian authorities in Windhoek did not respond to requests for clarification sent by the organization.
The report reveals summary deportations and systematic arbitrary detentions. In 2026, the Namibian Ministry of Interior confirmed the compulsory repatriation of more than 1,000 irregular Angolan citizens. On June 4, 2025, approximately 40 people, including mothers and minors, were forcibly gathered at a community center in Opuwo and transported to the Ruacána border without individualized screening, legal information about asylum rights, or risk assessment. Several unaccompanied children underwent deportations without minimum procedural safeguards, violating the principle of non-refoulement enshrined in international law.
The clandestine status of the displaced results in exclusion from basic services. Government health facilities charge higher fees to unregistered citizens, and the fear of links between hospitals and border police leads dozens of families to postpone treatment of serious illnesses. In the outskirts of northern Namibian cities, hundreds of people live in improvised shelters made of pressed cardboard and plastic, without running water, sanitation, or thermal insulation.
The crisis stems from environmental destruction in the Angolan provinces of Cunene, Huíla, and Namibe, affected by severe aridity and the El Niño phenomenon. The drought decimated livestock, dried up communal wells, and made subsistence farming unviable. Between January and July 2021, more than 7,000 people crossed the border, predominantly pregnant women, nursing mothers, and elderly. Amnesty International also holds the Angolan government accountable for insufficient investment in climate adaptation and calls on industrialized countries to allocate climate financing for losses and damages to benefit the most exposed African nations.
