In the months before the agreement for Namibian independence was signed in December 1988, there was an increase in reports of atrocities committed against residents of the northern war zones by units under the control of the South African Defence Force (SADF). The SADF also extended its military presence and began an aggressive campaign to dissuade people from voting for SWAPO in the event of elections.
The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), established in Windhoek in July, and its Human Rights Centre at Ongwediva in the north had dealt with 50 cases of 'human rights violations' by early September. These included damage to property, injuries, detentions, killings, harassment, disappearances, rape, robbery and assault. Between January and August, the Ovambo bantustan administration received reports of 120 alleged atrocities - an increase over previous years when it had dealt with an average of 130-150 such allegations annually.
DESERTERS REVEAL ATROCITIES
In late September and early October, statements by members of the 'security forces' who had deserted from their units yielded more evidence of atrocities. A former member of 101 Battalion stationed at Oluno in The Ovambo bantustan, who deserted in September, claimed that soldiers routinely beat up civilians and destroyed their property when trying to extract information about SWAPO guerrillas. Another deserter, who had served with Koevoet over a five-year period and had most recently also been based at Oluno, testified: 'I have personally witnessed many things which I can rightly call crimes or atrocities against innocent and defenceless civilians ... I hope you will understand if I say to you that I do not even want to recall such crimes.'
SADF, UNITA DEPLOYMENT
The increased reports of atrocities in the war zones coincided with an increase in the number of troops and a strengthening of existing military facilities in the north of Namibia prior to the signing of the December agreement. In July heavy artillery was moved north from Ondangwa military base. Reports in early September indicated major movements to the north of troops and equipment, including armoured cars and field guns. A British newspaper monitored up to 400 vehicles transporting equipment on two successive nights.
UNITA have been trained at the Rundu base of the SWATF 202 Battalion. In early September further UNITA forces moved from southern Angola into northern Namibia and members of UNITA committed acts of violence against Namibian civilians. UNITA forces 'roamed' around the Oshali area and further abroad stealing livestock and assaulting people. In December there was a spate of kidnappings in the Caprivi area by UNITA forces, who took their captives back to bases in Angola.
ANTI-SWAPO PROPAGANDA
The military authorities launched a campaign against SWAPO amongst residents of the northern war zones in the second half of 1988. In August pamphlets appeared in the Oshakati area, distributed anonymously and mainly at night, when civilians were confined to their homes by the military curfew. A separate series of pamphlets was distributed in the Ombalantu area, claiming that if SWAPO came to power 'the people of SWAPO will have no say over what belongs to them'. There were also fake pamphlets in the name of SWAPO attacking NANSO. This was seen by local people as an attempt to encourage division between the two organisations.
In late August, soldiers from the SADF's 101 Battalion at Ondangwa toured the surrounding area in armoured cars warning people of 'the dangers of UN Resolution 435 and the threat of SWAPO and communism'. In the Onayena area of the Ovambo bantustan, 'security forces' visited homes asking residents for whom they intended to vote once Resolution 435 was implemented.
A similar exercise took place in the Rundu area of the Kavango bantustan. The local authorities were ordered to gather people under their control at designated spots, where they were addressed by army personnel warning them not to vote for SWAPO. Separate reports indicated that in some parts of the north armed soldiers were 'canvassing villages ... writing down the names, identification numbers, addresses and political party affiliation of people in the rural villages ...'.
In late November an army telex from the SADF regional office in Rundu, addressed to 'headquarters internal liaison' in Windhoek and leaked to The Namibian newspaper, gave details of extensive SADF meetings in the Kavango bantustan to brief local residents on 435. In other areas, soldiers had shown propaganda videos and warned people not to vote for SWAPO. According to the Council of Churches in January: 'Police and army forces are already campaigning for elections. They call people to meetings, offer to plough their fields or provide piped water. This must be urgently and adequately monitored by UNTAG members or the elections will be unfairly influenced.'
PATTERNS OF VIOLENCE
Although the true scale of violence against civilians was obscured by censorship the following patterns emerged in reports in the press between July and November last year:
Assaults and beatings Between July and late November, there were at least 17 reports of beatings and assaults by police and soldiers, involving scores of civilians: they were beaten with fists, sticks and rifle butts, and were kicked and trampled. In another series of incidents, people wearing T-shirts bearing SWAPO slogans or those of the Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) or the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) were assaulted. Many sustained serious injuries and had to be hospitalised. The incidents took place throughout the north: many occurred in the area around Ombalantu and in the Eenhana region.
In late September in a series of 'raids', uniformed soldiers, allegedly from 202 Battalion at Rundu in the Kavango bantustan, systematically assaulted residents of Nkururenkuru. Some were beaten with iron bars and two students from the area, Immanuel NDARA and Tauno MARKUS, were reportedly detained. The assaults appeared to be a reprisal following an earlier incident when four soldiers posing as civilians visited the settlement to gather information - one of them was recognised and identified as a soldier and they were forced to leave. During the assaults, the soldiers tried to establish the identities of villagers who had exposed them. In late October hand-grenades were thrown into homesteads at Nkururenkuru by 'unknown men'. Twelve people were injured.
Shootings In five incidents reported by the press, civilians were shot by troops. In the past many people have been killed by soldiers enforcing the dusk-to-dawn curfew which applies most strictly in the Ovambo bantustan. Seven people were seriously injured when SWATF troops based at Nkongo opened fire on a vehicle without warning. Military headquarters in Windhoek claimed that the vehicle had been violating the curfew. The occupants of the car maintained that the incident took place an hour before curfew and that the army was 'hiding behind harsh curfew regulations' to justify a random shooting.
On 25 August, Jonas SHATJA (19), was killed in cold blood at Oshali by SADF troops. He was shot in front of his family for failing to produce an identity document. The soldiers accused him of being a SWAPO 'terrorist'. In another incident on 9 September a schoolboy, Christoph RAPHAEL (9), was shot dead by SADF troops whilst riding his bicycle at Oihumonawa. They alleged that they mistook him for a 'SWAPO terrorist'.
Other killings On 29 September three people, including a pregnant woman and her three-year old child, were killed when SWATF fired a mortar into their homestead at Emono. A SWATF spokesperson admitted responsibility, claiming it was an accident which had occurred 'during night-time exercises'. Local residents, however, claimed that security forces regularly 'fired wildly around the area' to keep PLAN combatants at bay and to intimidate local people.
In a particularly gruesome incident reported to the Ovambo bantustan administration in early August, members of Koevoet killed a man at Enkolo near Olambo, whom they accused of assisting PLAN fighters. 'When he denied this they beat him up, then they cut off his lips and ears and then they shaved the skin of his face with a knife. When they finished with this, they shot him dead and they ordered the villagers to bury his body', stated the administration.
Rape Three incidents in which members of the security forces raped civilians were reported. Sources at the Oshakati Hospital have said that doctors there treat between 10 and 15 cases each month of women raped by police and soldiers. In one incident two children aged eight and ten were raped by two members of the SADF based at Eenhana. They were subsequently charged for the offence, the only instance in all the 33 reported atrocities in which legal action was taken against the perpetrators.
