Angola’s Vice President, Bornito de Sousa Baltazar Diogo, yesterday arrived in Namibia to undertake a four-day working visit intended for consultations with his Namibian counterpart, Vice President Nangolo Mbumba.
According to Marbeline Goagoses, deputy director of information and research in the ministry of international relations and cooperation, the two vice presidents will discuss issues of common interest and concern.
She said the visit becomes the first inbound official visit to be hosted by Mbumba since he became Vice President of Namibia.
Bornito, who arrived at the Eros Airport yesterday, is set to lay a wreath at Heroes Acre today, according to the official itinerary.
He is also expected to pay a visit to the country’s meat-processing and marketing entity, Meatco, on the same day.
Bornito is scheduled to fly to Okaukuejo on Friday, where he will visit, among others, the Nabrowini and Gemsbokvlakte waterholes.
On Saturday, he will visit the University of Namibia (Unam) Jose Eduardo do Santos campus in Ongwediva in the Oshana region before convening a meeting with the region’s governor, Elia Irimari, and traditional leaders.
Namibia-Angola relations
In 1999, Namibia signed a mutual defence pact with Angola. Between 1999 and 2001, Namibia cooperated with the MPLA government by detaining suspected sympathisers of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
Namibian troops were also deployed to Angola to assist in counter-insurgency operations against UNITA insurgents near the border. Namibia and Angola were likewise both instrumental in an allied military intervention with Zimbabwe during the Second Congo War.
In 2001, there were about 30 000 Angolan refugees residing in Namibia. Many of them resided in the Osire refugee camp near Otjiwarongo.
The overwhelming majority of the refugees were repatriated to Angola after the end of the Angolan Civil War in 2002.
Namibians were the only nationality who could access Angola visa-free until 30 November 2017, when citizens of South Africa and Mozambique were also allowed visa-free access on 1 December 2017. Currently, citizens of 11 countries can visit Angola visa-free.
Since last year, thousands of Angolans have crossed the border into Namibia in search of food and work as that country has suffered prolonged drought, compounded by Covid-19 and the economic downturn.