News In Brief

Namibia police arrest top SWAPO figures and allies

Police in Namibia have rounded up top political allies of the SWAPO rebel group fighting South African rule, police and SWAPO officials said Sunday. They raided a barbecue on the grounds of a Roman Catholic church near Windhoek, Namibia's capital, Saturday and arrested 37 people, including Nathaniel Maxuilili, acting president of the South West Africa People's Organization's political wing, which operates openly within Namibia (South West Africa).

The barbecue was being held to celebrate the release last month of 54 SWAPO members, most of whom were captured in 1978 during a South African raid into Angola from the Mariental detention camp in southern Namibia.