2005-11-15,+Swapo+bodies+were+burnt,+buried+in+mass+graves,+Star

Mass graves in Namibia

= Ex-troop tells how Swapo bodies were burnt, buried =

Genitals were taken by SADF soldiers, apparently to be used as pen holders

The Star, Johannesburg. November 14, 2005

By Shaun Smillie & Tabby Moyo, ssm@star.co.za

One layer of bodies, a layer of wood, then more bodies.

That was the procedure.

A former SA Defence Force (SADF) soldier stationed at a military base at Eenhana, Namibia, between 1984 and 1986, told The Star yesterday that one of his duties was to bury - and burn - the bodies of South West African People's Liberation Organisation (Swapo) freedom fighters killed in clashes with SADF forces.

The soldier, who asked to be known only as Badenhorst, said yesterday he knew of at least five mass burial sites near the Eenhana base.

John Liebenberg, a photojournalist, also yesterday confirmed seeing mass graves at Eenhana - and he has the photographs to prove it.

Liebenberg was covering the "Nine Day War" in April 1989 when Swapo sent hundreds of its fighters into what was then South West Africa, just as the SADF began pulling out of the area.

The result was a short, bloody conflict that left hundreds dead.

Badenhorst said the biggest grave site he saw at Eenhana had about 18 bodies.

"They were Swapo soldiers killed by Koevoet, South African units and gunships."

Army procedure was that the bodies were brought in a trailer pulled by an armoured troop carrier.

"Sometimes the trailer would be left overnight - we couldn't go out at night as it was an operational area.

"Sometimes ears on the bodies would be missing the next morning - taken by troops as souvenirs."

Genitals were also taken, apparently to be used as pen holders. "Some of the dead were little more than children, they were only about 13 or 14 years old," said Badenhorst.

The graves were hand dug, bodies were stacked between layers of wood, then diesel and aviation fuel was poured on the corpses and set alight.

"We were supposed to stay there until the corpses were just ash, but we never did because that took a long time.

"Considering that Eenhana had been in existence since the 1970s there are probably many more mass graves in the area," Badenhorst said.

Liebenberg was near Eenhana on April 11 1989 when a storekeeper alerted him to a mass grave being exhumed.

"The Council of Churches in Namibia had got a supreme court order to exhume this particular site, to detail causes of death.

"There were rumours that some of the soldiers killed had died during interrogation. I am not sure what happened to those bodies afterwards."

Liebenberg said he knew of other mass grave sites in northern Namibia.

Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has visited the site of two apartheid-era mass graves and said the remains would be given a dignified reburial.

"It hurt me when I was informed about this mass grave and it still hurts," he said yesterday.

Pohamba is a veteran of the fighting against SA's occupation of the former German colony.

He called on those who served in SA's occupation army and their Namibian collaborators to come forward with any information that could help identify the bodies.

Pohamba told hundreds of people who joined him at the site that anyone providing information would not be punished.

The skeletons were found last week in mass graves at a former SA military base near Eenhana in northern Namibia.

A senior Namibian government official said that dozens - possibly hundreds - of people had been dumped in the graves.

However, a final figure could only be given once forensic teams had done their work.

Political researchers say the graves may date to a nine-day battle between fighters of the security forces in 1989, in which more than 300 people were reportedly killed.

The battle followed a Swapo incursion from Angola that jeopardised the country's independence process, begun on April 1 1989. Namibia won independence from South Africa in 1990.

The clashes produced some of the heaviest fighting and worst casualties of the entire struggle.

The present South African government has made it known that it is prepared to discuss the graves with Windhoek, but in private.

Meanwhile, Namibia's human rights watchdog has again called for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission, similar to the one instituted in South Africa.

The National Society for Human Rights said Pohamba must establish, without further delay, a truth and reconciliation commission for the country.

"The discovery of mass graves is a dire reminder of the massive human rights violations committed during the struggle for Namibian independence.

"We reiterate our call for the establishment of a TRC to investigate all human rights violations," said NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh. - Independent Foreign Service and Reuters

From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=128&fArticleId=2993411