The Special Field Force (SFF) is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

Police Force The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

unit created in 1995 by the late commissioner Ruben "Danger" Ashipala as an auxiliary aggressive unit to complement the

Special Reserve Force The Special Reserve Force is a division with in the Namibian Police Force. Primarily its role is a police tactical unit based on the Special Task Force of the South African Police Service. The unit was a reserve unit within Special Field Force t ...

(SRF). It encompasses border guards,

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples in ...

Protection Unit and Installation unit. Approximately half of the Namibian Police's (NAMPOL) overall complement is assigned to the SFF which is made up primarily of combatants from the former

People's Liberation Army of Namibia The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the Sou ...

(PLAN) and

South West African Territorial Force The South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF) was an auxiliary arm of the South African Defence Force (SADF) and comprised the armed forces of South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1977 to 1989. It emerged as a product of South Africa's politi ...

(SWATF). Among the population the Special Field Force is seen as the less educated and more brutal wing of the Namibian Police. They have been implicated in the intimidation, assault, torture and also murder of civilians in the secessionist uprisings in Namibia's

Caprivi Strip The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is surrounded by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a ...

in 1998 and 1999. Also later, under normal and calm political conditions, human rights groups accused the Special Field Force of several atrocities, e.g.: * 2002 in May officers of the Special Field Force detained and assaulted Namibian men suspected of being gay. * 2003 in October nine minors were arrested on suspicion of housebreaking. Several police officers wearing SFF uniforms, as well as plain-clothes detectives, reportedly beat and tortured them with whips and electric shocks. * 2006, on February 17, two off duty members of the

Okahao Okahao is a town in the Omusati Region of northern Namibia and the district capital of the Okahao electoral constituency. It is situated in the Ongandjera tribal area west of Oshakati on the main road MR123 ( Outapi — Tsandi — Okahao). I ...

Police's Special Field Force, constables Amadhila and Kamanya, allegedly led a mob in the assault of two women accused of witchcraft. * 2006, March 2, members of the SFF police unit and the

Namibian Defence Force The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) comprises the national military forces of Namibia. It was created when the country, then known as South West Africa, gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Chapter 15 of the Constitution of Namibia estab ...

(NDF), who were sent to Mariental to maintain law and order after a flood, randomly assaulted residents of the town. * 2007, on June 5, SFF executed an unprovoked attack on demonstrating war veterans.

References

{{Border protection agencies Government of Namibia Paramilitary organisations based in Namibia Government paramilitary forces Law enforcement in Namibia