2016-10-03Staff Report 2 Windhoek The Inspector General of the Namibian police and Interpol’s vice-president for Africa, Lieutenant-General Sebastian Ndeitunga, was yesterday morning accosted by German immigration officials, along with six other Namibians at Frankfurt airport. All black passengers were called aside for thorough inspection and questioning upon disembarking from an Air Namibia flight, while white passengers were not subjected to the same treatment, claimed the Namibian police chief. Ndeitunga, who is a candidate for the Interpol presidency post, is a diplomatic passport holder and fumed as he narrated the “humiliating” ordeal to New Era yesterday. At the time he was being subjected to aggressive questioning by German border control officers, he was in fact on his way to Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France as the international crime body is preparing for its elective general assembly scheduled for next month. “We were about seven Namibians going in transit to various destinations. We are going to Lyon and all of us were stopped. White people were left to go [without being subjected to the same treatment and interrogation]. “I was deeply humiliated by the German police at the airport,” Ndeitunga said by phone from Frankfurt. “I was interrogated like a suspected refugee. All black people who disembarked from the Air Namibia aircraft were stopped and subjected to strange questions. I tried to explain who I am, but all in vain. Even the diplomatic passport was not helpful.” A furious Ndeitunga said he resents being treated like an unwanted refugee. When New Era contacted him at around 14h00 local time yesterday, Ndeitunga had already been released by customs and immigration officials at Frankfurt airport and was on his way to France. In a prelude to the current diplomatic fiasco, in 2010 then youth, sport and culture minister Kazenambo Kazenambo was also detained at Germany’s Munich airport for several hours for reportedly travelling with a fake passport. It took diplomatic intervention from both countries to secure Kazenambo’s release from his detainers. Also a diplomatic passport holder Kazenambo missed his connecting flight home on his way back from a world youth conference in Mexico at the time due to the temporary detention by German border control officials. Several attempts to get clarity from Frankfurt Airport did not yield any results yesterday, while efforts to get a response from Germany’s ambassador to Namibia, Christian Matthias Schlaga, produced no fruits. 2016-10-03Staff Report 2
