Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA) was a

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

n rebel and

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

group established in 1994 to separate the Caprivi Strip, a region mainly inhabited by the

Lozi people The Lozi people, also known as Balozi, are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They have significant populations in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Lozi language, Silozi, is used as the formal language in e ...

. It operates only in the Caprivi strip.

Background

The Caprivi Strip is located in the far northeast of Namibia. The region is a panhandle of

eastwards about 450 km, between

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

to the south,

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

to the north, and the Kavango Region. During the "

Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa was the invasion, conquest, and colonialism, colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by the Second Industrial Revolution during the late 19th century and early 20th century in the era of ...

" period,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

ceded the territory to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to access the

Zambezi River The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

and reach its other colonies in East Africa while keeping possession of

German South-West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

. The Caprivi strip was of strategic military importance. It saw continual military actions and multiple incursions by various

armed force A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily Weapon, armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable ...

s using the Strip as a corridor to access other territories. Many

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n factions mainly handled those military actions during the

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...

(1970–1979). It was also a battlefield for the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

and

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

operations against the

n government (1965–1994) and the

UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberat ...

operations during the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...

Formation and activities of the CLA

The front was created in February 1994 as a separatist group with the goal of uniting the

, who live in neighbouring

, and

, together. Since 1998, it has been under the leadership of Mishake Muyongo, who has been expelled from the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia (DTA) as a result of his support for the

secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

of his home region. In August 1999, the CLA launched many surprise attacks on police stations and many military posts in Katima Mulilo before the Namibian government imposed a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

in the eastern part of the Caprivi Strip and beat the rebels. Fourteen rebels were reported dead, and as many as 200 were arrested and jailed. Most are in custody as trial-awaiting prisoners in the Caprivi treason trial. The last military ambush was executed in September 1999, where three members were killed in a shoot-out. The leader, Muyongo, was granted asylum in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

References

External links

*{{cite web , url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/caprivi.htm , title=Caprivi Liberation Front / Caprivi Liberation Movement (CLM) , website=GlobalSecurity.org 1994 establishments in Namibia Rebel groups in Namibia Separatism in Namibia Military history of Namibia

Background

Formation and activities of the CLA

See also

References

External links