Describing the war in Namibia as having reached a 'calamitous stage', Namibian bishops and churchleaders requested a meeting with President Botha in April to discuss 'this dangerous situation of escalating conflict'. Through the Administrator-General in Windhoek, Botha indicated that he would only meet with the bishops if they agreed to an agenda set by him. 'The State President does not share your view of a deteriorating and escalating situation of violence in SWA/Namibia', declared the Administrator-General.
Press reports, although they reflect only a small proportion of incidents in the Namibian conflict, indicate a substantial increase in attacks on civilians by South African forces this year. A survey of assaults, killings, intimidation and rape, dealing with the period from July 1986 to mid-March 1987, appeared in the last issue of FOCUS. The incidents described below were reported between March and July this year. A further 25 incidents in addition to those listed were reported in the press.
In most cases, the beating, assault and torture of civilians took place at the hands of troops or police trying to gain information about the presence of SWAPO guerillas. Other incidents clearly resulted from indiscipline and the carrying of weapons by off-duty troops. Unless otherwise stated, all the incidents took place in the northern war zones.
- 6 March Police from the Counter-Insurgency Unit (Koevoet) raided the village of Uukango, questioning and beating local inhabitants and destroying homes and 'storage basins'. The village head, Jonas NGHAMWA, and his wife Victoria SHIINDA, were tortured by being forced under water at a nearby water-hole. The troops broke all Nghamwa's fingers and his wife's right arm.
- 11 March Olivia KASHIPUA of Ondangua was assaulted by troops, who tortured her by burying her head in sand and threatening to kill her six-month-old baby son.
- 13 March Soldiers in armoured vehicles displayed the corpses of four young men and a woman at the Roman Catholic mission at Okatana. The troops sang and ululated as they showed the bodies to local people.
- 17 March Three women were killed and another three civilians injured when a South African Casspir armoured vehicle opened fire on homesteads in the Onamtai area and drove into one of the houses, destroying it. The military authorities declared that the women had been killed in 'cross-fire' and that coffins had been despatched to the settlement as a gesture of sympathy.
- 27 March Louise NTHITETE, an employee of Oshakati hospital, was assaulted by Koevoet members who accused her of being a SWAPO supporter. She had to be hospitalised.
- 10 April Two women from Oluno, both mothers of young babies, were repeatedly raped by three members of 101 Battalion who broke into their home. The soldiers also entered other homes in the area, stealing property and alcohol and beating residents.
- 19 April Stefaans KANISIUS was accustomed and beaten by Koevoet police on his way home from an Easter church service. He escaped, but the police throw hand grenades and fired after him.
- 23 April Emma KAPPANDA was assaulted by seven 'security force members' searching her home. Her husband, Junius, a senior pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, stated that they had been repeatedly harassed by troops or police who had ransacked their home.
- 11 May A clinic run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Ewaneno was destroyed by sabotage. According to a church spokesman, it was the third clinic to be destroyed this year.
- 12 May Two homesteads near Oshikuku were fired on by troops and set alight, and a number of people in the area assaulted. Three civilians had to be hospitalised.
- 15 May A SWAPO member, Mweulixuli-ka GHIFEWA, was picked up by police in Windhoek, beaten and dumped unconscious into a dry riverbed.
- 10 June A two-year old girl and a man were killed when a Koevoet Casspir smashed into their homestead in Ombalantu area. A pregnant woman, Monica KAMULUNGU, was seriously injured.
- 14 June A soldier who was refused entry to a disco party in Katutura, Windhoek, threw a high-fragmentation grenade into the house, injuring seven people.
- 14 June Josef DUMENI, younger brother of Bishop Kleopas Dumeni, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, was killed by South African troops in southern Angola. He had crossed into Angola, reportedly with official permission, in order to retrieve stolen cattle. Military authorities stated that he had been killed for violating the dusk-to-dawn curfew, but the curfew is not in force in Angola. Accusing South African troops of 'deliberate and calculated violent action against local inhabitants', Bishop Dumeni expressed his 'concern and sorrow for the thousands of my fellow Namibians of whom my brother is now the most recent victim'.
- 19 June Koevoet police arriving at a cattle post beat several people with sticks and tortured Johannes ELIA by burning his hand on the exhaust outlet of a Casspir.
- 2 July Wilka MULE, an 18-year-old schoolgirl from Ombalantu, reported that she was beaten by Koevoet troops who arrived at her home. She was then tortured with electric shocks.
- 9 July A teenage schoolgirl, Laina TAAPOPI, was killed and her boyfriend, Israel MWANDINGI, seriously injured when the car they were travelling in was fired on without warning by 'security forces'. The couple were returning from a party in the Valombola township of Ongwediva. They were shot for breaking the curfew, but local residents reported that the curfew had not been enforced in the urban area of Ongwediva for some time.
- 11 July Maurus VALOMBOLA, accused of aiding SWAPO, was beaten by troops at Ogongo military base and then taken blindfolded to his home. The troops broke into his house, killed his chickens, destroyed property and stole money and goods before moving on to a nearby wedding where they assaulted guests.
