The full impact of South Africa's military occupation of Namibia on the day-to-day existence of the black population is rarely given much attention by the press and media. Strict military censorship ensures that little is known about the army's operations, apart from periodic claims by military officials of 'successful actions against SWAPO guerillas'. Evidence of the destruction of communities and the environment, of the fear instilled in the black population of becoming a target of army 'search and destroy' missions, of the many armed units of the military, paramilitary or police force, has to be pieced together from many sources. These include isolated reports, inquests held at magistrates courts, trials of rape cases and brief articles about deaths of civilians in apparently random shootings involving the armed forces. A picture emerges of a country ruled by the military occupation forces and their local recruits who have the power to use a wide array of repressive legislation to control the civilian population.
The failure of the South African armed forces to suppress civilian resistance is nevertheless evident in the few reports that do filter out, of PLAN guerilla actions, of civilian support for the armed struggle in the form of assisting the guerillas with food, shelter and information and of their refusal to co-operate with the occupying army. While the scarcity of information makes it impossible to describe the full extent of the war in Namibia, this review, drawing together available information, gives an overview of recent events in the war zones of the territory. It shows that the level of violence committed by the armed forces is very high and widespread. But it also shows that frequent South African claims to have destroyed SWAPO as a military force and turned the civilian population against the armed struggle are contradicted by the military's own admissions of continued guerilla activities, and the perceived need to prevent the civilian population from supporting SWAPO by constant harassment, forced removals, curfews, arrests and other forms of violence. Those who are detained by the armed forces in the hope of extracting information from them face severe assault and torture and even death during interrogation.
