Against a background of continuing atrocities in Namibia's war zones as troops have tried to contain the armed struggle, SWAPO responded to the January military call-up by calling for resistance to conscription. The movement accused the South African Defence Force (SADF) of 'mass killings of innocent civilians in the rural areas. They have also destroyed schools, churches, burned crops, shot down cattle, robbed people and raped women'. At two rallies in Windhoek, in January SWAPO representatives called on Namibians to refuse to serve in the South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) and condemned the cadet system in schools as a form of pre-military training. They also drew attention to the atrocities in the operational areas.
Since June 1986 there has been evidence of mounting atrocities in much of occupied northern Namibia as SADF units have tried to suppress increased PLAN activity.
The following account of atrocities is based on a survey of the Namibian press between mid-July 1986 and mid-March 1987. It is not a comprehensive account of SADF brutality. Information in the press is piecemeal, based on reports of official inquests and experiences of individual civilians. The northern war zones of Namibia are the subject of a stringent information clampdown and most of the activities of troops go unreported.
Killings of curfew breakers In September 1986 a man was killed and three others seriously injured when a group of camouflaged men in Casspirs (believed to be police) fired randomly on shoppers at Otshika near Oshikuku. The incident occurred after curfew. In a sequel to an earlier incident, an inquest court convened in November found that no one was criminally liable for the death of Gebhard SIMON (33) who was killed when Defence Force members surrounded a shop in April 1985, acting on information that 'there were saboteurs in the region'. The servicemen had instructions to shoot on sight anyone out after curfew hours. Many civilians have been killed as a result of the military's strict enforcement of curfew regulations. In October Namibian churches unsuccessfully applied to the courts to have the curfew set aside, because it had disrupted family life, worship and ordinary social intercourse for half the population of the country. The churches were subsequently given leave to appeal.
Other killings The press survey revealed that during the period covered, at least 16 civilians died as a result of SADF operations against SWAPO guerillas in 10 separate incidents. In one case, Paulus EKANDJO (50) died after he was assaulted by the police counterinsurgency unit (COIN) in January 1987. Five other people were assaulted in the same incident, in Ouma village near Ombalantu. The unit came from the Omahenene Base.
The body of Johannes SHISHO disappeared after a contact in September 1985 between SWAPO guerillas and a COIN unit from the Rundu base, in the Omolamba area near Nkongo. Two children were also shot during the incident, which the authorities described as 'crossfire'. The inquest which took place in October 1986 produced no explanation for the disappearance of the body and highlighted the lack of records and accountability in the police and military with regard to deaths of civilians.
The military authorities ascribed the death in November 1986 of Rev Gabriel AMUPOLO (63) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to SWAPO insurgents. He was called from his home one evening by a group of armed men and the next morning was found dead from bullet wounds. Local church leaders denied that he was killed by SWAPO and pointed to the shells from a South African rifle found in the vicinity and a history of COIN activity in the Othika area where he lived.
Three women were killed in March 1987 in the Onamtai area when, after a contact with SWAPO guerillas, SADF Casspir vehicles ploughed into a homestead, crushing two people sheltering inside. The third woman was shot while sitting in a field eating.
SADF officials said the people were killed 'in crossfire' but residents insisted the action was deliberate. The Casspirs had driven towards the homesteads as they retreated from the contact. As they approached the huts the members of COIN on board shouted and cursed at residents saying that they had given birth to SWAPO and that they would kill them.
Assaults, intimidation and torture Scores of people were injured in 22 separate incidents of assault and intimidation against civilians reported in the press between June 1986 and March 1987. Units from COIN, 101 and 202 Battalions and on one occasion cavalry from Okatope military base were involved in assaults on civilians - mostly in an attempt to extract information about the whereabouts of SWAPO guerillas and intimidate the local population. People were beaten with sticks, rifle butts and fists. Many were hospitalised. In August COIN members beat people in an attempt to force villagers in Omutsewonime and Omalala to attend meetings of Etango - the cultural movement attached to the SADF.
COIN activity has been particularly intense in the Ombalantu area. In December 1985 COIN units repeatedly entered villages, assaulting residents.
In October the hamlet of Okathiku was subjected to a reign of terror. In a night of 'scrambling and pain' SADF units from the Ongandjera and Omahanene bases rounded up all local youths, who were then beaten and tortured with electric shocks.
In a particularly brutal incident in March 1987 soldiers from the Winela base in the Caprivi region poured petrol into the Zambezi river where a group of local children were swimming and set it alight. Two were treated for burns.
In a sequel to an incident in June 1986 in which a 15-year-old schoolboy, Porteus Blasius, was seriously burnt when his face was held against the exhaust of an idling military vehicle, two national servicemen were fined only R500 each in a Windhoek magistrates' court.
Display of corpses In July 1986, residents in the Ondanga area told of an incident in which Casspirs entered a village and deposited the bodies of two men. The villagers were ordered to bury them. In January this year The Namibian published a photograph showing the bodies of dead guerillas tied to the front of an armoured vehicle. It was taken in December 1986 near Ondobe. This is the first photographic confirmation of reports by locals that troops and police routinely display the bodies of dead guerillas to villagers as a form of intimidation. The police and military authorities have always denied such practices. The issue of The Namibian carrying the picture was banned, and later unbanned.
Rape and indecent assault Members of the SADF have been involved in cases of rape and indecent assault. Two national servicemen, members of 3 SA Infantry Battalion were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment each in the Windhoek Supreme Court for the rape of a 24 year old woman, and the assault of two others, at Epalea near Ruacana in February 1985. Three years of each man's sentence was suspended. One of the accused was sentenced to an additional nine months' imprisonment for malicious damage to property and assault.
In October 1986 members of 53 Battalion raped and assaulted two women, both pregnant, at Oluno. The rapes took place during an operation to locate SWAPO guerillas responsible for blowing up telephone lines. One of the women, Maria KAMUTUKWATA, was previously raped, in May 1984, by members of the same battalion. No charges arose out of the latter incident. Both women were hospitalised.
In November, Sylvia CORNELIUS, who was six months' pregnant at the time, was raped by members of 101 Battalion, at Onamumulo, near Oshigambo, during an SADF search for SWAPO fighters.
In January a 14-year-old schoolgirl Christophina THOMAS was seriously injured after she was shot in the stomach at point-blank range in an incident involving a group of SADF soldiers, in Ongwedwa. She had resisted the sexual advances of one of the group.
In a separate incident also in January two women were raped by a group of six COIN members at Omajanga near Okatana. Neighbours who attempted to come to the assistance of the women were kept away by soldiers who fired shots in their direction.
Against this background, several young Namibians have publicly resisted conscription.
In February two conscripts applied to the Windhoek Supreme Court to have their military call-up orders set aside. Alfons KOTJIPATI (23) and Edward AMPORO (21), were due to start their service in January. In an affidavit to the court Kotjipati said he had informed the army that he was prepared to do his military service on condition that he would not have to spill blood and that he would be employed as a storeman or clerk. He later instructed his attorney to inform the authorities that he would not render service until a decision had been reached on the Binga appeal in the Bloemfontein Appellate Division. Eric Binga challenged his call-up instructions in an earlier court case, on the grounds that in terms of international law the South African Parliament did not have the power to extend conscription to Namibians. In his affidavit Amporo stated: 'I regard the SADF and its units collectively referred to as SWATF as principal instruments by which the present South African Government illegally occupies Namibia'.
In a similar development religious objector Richard ROOINASIE (26), a Muslim, appeared before Windhoek's chief magistrate in March, charged with failing to report for military service. The case is to be transferred to the Supreme Court, following argument by his defence lawyer that it is the only institution which has the jurisdiction to test the validity in Namibia of the Defence Act.
