TheSpecial Field Force (SFF) is aNamibianPolice Forceparamilitarypolice unit created in 1995 by the late commissionerRuben "Danger" Ashipala as an auxiliary aggressive unit to complement theSpecial Reserve Force (SRF). It encompasses border guards,VIP 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 formerPeople's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) andSouth West African Territorial Force (SWATF).^[1]

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 thesecessionist uprisings in Namibia'sCaprivi Strip in 1998 and 1999.^[2]

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 mensuspected of being gay.^[3]
• 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.^[4]
• 2006, on February 17, two off duty members of theOkahao Police's Special Field Force, constables Amadhila and Kamanya, allegedly led a mob in the assault of two women accused ofwitchcraft.
• 2006, March 2, members of the SFF police unit and theNamibian Defence Force (NDF), who were sent toMariental to maintain law and order after a flood, randomly assaulted residents of the town.^[5]
• 2007, on June 5, SFF executed an unprovoked attack on demonstrating war veterans.^[6]

• Government of Namibia
• Paramilitary organisations based in Namibia
• Government paramilitary forces
• Law enforcement in Namibia

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata