5 Rebel Leaders Arrested in Namibia in Raid on Political Group, Union
WINDHOEK, Namibia — Five rebel leaders were arrested during a police sweep in connection with a terrorism investigation, the police commissioner said Wednesday in Namibia (South-West Africa).
Among those arrested Tuesday was Anton Lubowski, 35, a lawyer and union leader who in 1984 became the first white to announce his membership in the South-West Africa People’s Organization.
The movement has been waging a military campaign for Namibian independence from South Africa since 1966.
SWAPO’s political wing is legal in Namibia, a South African-ruled territory.
The territory’s acting police commissioner, Maj. Gen. Koos Myburgh, said the others arrested were SWAPO Vice President Hendrik Witbooi; Daniel Tjongarero, deputy national chairman; Nico Bessinger, joint secretary for foreign affairs, and John Pandeni, general secretary of the SWAPO-affiliated Namibian Food and Allied Union.
Myburgh said that the suspects were detained for “possibly assisting with or instigating the commission of terrorist acts.â€
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