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Damn the dam!

  • 14/07/1995

The Namibian and Angolan governments' joint plans to build a hydel-project dam on the Kunene river is threatening the very survival of the Himbas tribals living in the border area. The proposed dam will submerge 290 sq km of Himba country, including their grazing grounds and ancestral graves. Said Hikominue Kapika, a headman of the area, "We refuse to accept this dam. The river is our life, our hope. The dam is our death." The Himba have vowed to fight tooth and nail to scuttle the project.

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