The forced removal of civilians from the border zone of northern Namibia has now been in full swing for more than three months. The intention of the South African regime, first announced in October last year, is to create a heavily patrolled, depopulated cordon sanitaire 250 km long and several kilometers deep along the Kwanyama tribal authority's entire frontier with Angola. The mass evacuation, described by the authorities as a tactical move to safeguard the lives and property of local residents, leaves the way open for a concerted build-up of military and defence forces in the area. The cleared strip can be used as a base for South Africa's continuing operations inside Angola as well as an all-out attack on SWAPO's guerilla forces.
There have been no official pronouncements of the numbers of people involved since the removals got under way but the effects could be traumatic, particularly for the very large numbers of Ovambos who have relatives, friends and other contacts in Angola. There has always been considerable traffic by local people across the border, which in the past has consisted of a waist-high wire fence.
The Commissioner-General for the Indigenous Peoples of South West Africa, Mr Jannie de Wet, confirmed in mid-October that the removal of entire villages, kraals, shops, cafes and other businesses had already started. He said that people would be compensated for the loss of their property out of the Kwanyama tribal fund, and that new land would be allocated to them. The authorities claim that new clinics and hospital services are to be established to replace those lost by the move, and that living and working conditions will be better in the new areas.
The United Nations Committee on Trust and Dependent Territories have been warned that the removals will cause mass dislocation and splitting of families. Rev. Frederick Houghton, Vicar of St. Peter's Anglican Church in New York City and formerly stationed at Odibo on the Namibian border, told the Committee that five Church centres, two hospitals and several schools would have to be abandoned and that the Ovambo people would forfeit the use of the best watered farmland in the region.
The first stage of the evacuation has been to remove those residents described by the authorities as "squatters". They are being followed by those with "vested interests" in the area, the "traditional farmers", kraal inhabitants and businessmen. A special committee has been set up with the Ovamboland "homeland" cabinet, under whose authority the Kwanyama tribal area falls, to monitor the removal of these "permanent" inhabitants.
Since October, the Ovambo Tribal Police have been receiving special training under South African supervision and have been re-equipped with automatic weapons. At the beginning of December, reinforcements from the South African police counter-insurgency unit were flown up from Pretoria to the Ovamboland border zone as a second line of attack to the Defence Forces operating inside Angola. The men have been hand-picked for their experience in combatting guerillas and many have served in Rhodesia. They have had instructions to wipe out "terrorist infiltration". "We are going to clear Ovamboland", commented the South African Minister of Police. "It is a fairly strong group we are sending."
