Three civilians were reported to have died, a number of others detained and allegedly assaulted and many villagers apparently forced to flee from their homes in the Western Kavango region as a result of South African military operations against SWAPO guerillas in the area. A military inquiry into these events was launched and the findings made public in early May.
Residents in the area told reporters that security arrangements were being stiffened as the SADF attempted to clamp down on the movement of SWAPO guerillas. The Kavango region has been subjected to intense South African military and police operations since late 1982, when a large number of people were detained and two detainees were reportedly beaten to death (FOCUS 45 pp.8-9; WA 29.4/6.5.83).
Four men were reported to have been detained on 8 April, and were being held for questioning under Proclamation AG9, according to a security police spokesman. They are Gideon NESTER (29), an assistant accountant of the Kavango government service in Rundu, Pendi DESERISTINUS (40), a nursing assistant at the Rundu hospital, Gosberth SIKERETHE (38), a clerk at the state corporation ENOK, and Rudolph NANKEMA (27) (also given as MUKUWE) of Rupara village. Nine others, who had been arrested in early March 1983, were reported to have been released on 22 March. Their names were not given (WA 25.4.83).
Further arrests were made on 20 April at a house at Mpanda village. Three villagers, Veikko RUPASA, Jonas SITUMBI, and Gideon Asser LIKUWA, were held for questioning and were later released. They told reporters that they were blindfolded and assaulted during interrogation.
On the same day, Asser LIKUWA (50) of Mpanda village, the father of Gideon Likuwa, was killed by security forces in what was described as an 'accident'. According to a security force spokesman, Likuwa was 'mistaken for an insurgent' when he jumped up from a thicket in between a security force patrol and SWAPO guerillas. No explanation was given about the deaths of two other civilians, Sulevi HAINGURA (27), a teacher at Nge village, and Tjau MUSIMBA (45), a school principal at Nkandi village.
Local sources quoted in a Namibian newspaper reported that after Likuwa's death, members of the security forces visited his home and questioned the residents about the presence of SWAPO guerillas and about footprints discovered in the area.
During the funeral of Sulevi Haingura, a group of uniformed men reportedly arrived, displaying the body of a man they claimed was responsible for Haingura's death.
Civilians in the area were reported to have fled their homes after these incidents, seeking sanctuary further north near the Kubango river. The primary school at Mpanda was apparently deserted, and a local official of the Department of Education expressed his concern about the dangers facing teachers at village schools in the area (WA 29.4.83).
