Baynes displacement concerns
OvaHimba and OvaTjimba Indigenous communities from Namibia’s Kunene Region and Angola’s Namibe and Cunene provinces handed a petition to the Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, Modestus Amutse, in Windhoek on Monday, 26 October 2026, expressing deep concern over the proposed Baynes hydropower dam on the Kunene River.
“Our communities have lived along the Kunene River for generations. The river and land are our source of life, sustaining our livelihoods, culture and identity. The proposed dam, located within our ancestral territory, threatens to flood our land, destroy sacred sites and grazing areas, and undermine our cultural survival,” interpreter Alphons Kahuhu Koruhama said as he read the petition aloud.
The Baynes project is a joint initiative between the Namibian and Angolan governments and their respective electricity utilities to construct an 878MW baseload power generation facility, which is expected to meet growing electricity needs in Namibia and southern Angola.
Last week, Amutse returned from the first binational commission meeting between the neighbouring countries, held in Luanda from 18 to 20 October. On the sidelines of the meeting, he held his first bilateral discussion on the project with his Angolan counterpart, João Baptista Borges, saying it was time to conclude the development phase and move towards construction.
“It is now time to bring the development phase to a clear conclusion and move towards the construction of this much-needed energy infrastructure project,” he said.
'Strategic importance'
Amutse stressed the project’s strategic importance, explaining that a funding strategy developed by the project implementation unit had been presented to both governments, which intend to share the costs.
“For Namibia, baseload electricity generation is very crucial,” Amutse said at the time.
Ombuku Kapika Traditional Authority chief Mutaambanda Kapika led Monday’s delegation, presenting the minister with background research and supporting documents outlining the potential impact on communities in the area earmarked for the joint Namibian-Angolan development. The delegation also submitted 2,011 signatures from OvaHimba and OvaTjimba people in Namibia and Angola.
According to International Rivers, more than 500 people and organisations have also expressed their support online, standing in solidarity with communities along the Kunene River.
The proposed dam is expected to flood approximately 57 square kilometres of ancestral OvaHimba and OvaTjimba territory, including homes, ancestral graves and sacred sites. It would displace families and destroy grazing land and water sources on which pastoral livelihoods depend. The project could also cause lasting damage to biodiversity and riverine ecosystems.
The petitioners warn that the development could “erase aspects of our cultural and spiritual heritage that are inseparable from the land”.
Consultations questioned
According to affected communities, consultations conducted so far have been non-transparent, incomplete and exclusionary, and have not been carried out in good faith. They claim that many community members were not informed about the process and that certain government-appointed leaders were assumed to represent them, preventing others from speaking for themselves. They also allege that some dissenting voices were deliberately excluded.
The communities are calling on both governments to suspend all project-related activities until a transparent and inclusive consultation process has been completed, all project documentation has been made public, a human rights assessment has been conducted, and the OvaHimba bio-cultural protocol has been respected.
They are also calling for customary land rights to be respected and for alternative, sustainable energy solutions, such as solar and wind power, to be explored to avoid displacing communities or destroying ecosystems.
Amutse received the petition but said he would need to discuss its contents with his Angolan counterparts before responding.
