A HUMAN rights organisation has called for an independent forensic investigation of at least six mass graves it has found a few kilometres north of the Namibian border in southern Angola.
The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) claims that hundreds of Namibian and Angolan citizens were buried in the graves between 1999 and 2002, when rebels and supporters of the Angolan Unita rebel movement were hunted by soldiers of the Namibian and Angolan armies. At the same time former President Sam Nujoma should be investigated under international laws, the NSHR said, as some of the graves might date from a few years earlier than 1999, when Nujoma had ordered security forces to shoot to kill if they spotted people crossing the border.Presenting the findings, NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh said he himself went to southern Angola between June and July this year to investigate claims by villagers on both sides of the border that there were mass graves dug after Independence in 1990.Local villagers guided the NSHR team to the various sites.”We believe that the victims whose remains are buried in the six grave sites found, might form part of the hundreds of victims of the crime of enforced disappearance who were ‘cleared’ from their residences along Namibia’s northern and north-eastern border between 1994 and 2003,” Ya Nangoloh told a packed hall of about 250 people in a Windhoek hotel.The venue had to be hastily changed, as the Polytechnic Hotel School informed the NSHR only 60 minutes before the start that it could not host the NSHR event, although that venue had been booked well in advance.No reasons were given.According to the NSHR boss, the dead were unlawfully transferred or expelled from their areas as a result of an “equally unlawful presidential decree” to that effect in September 1994.”This decree resulted from a mysterious armed killing in eastern Kavango which, in turn, was used as a pretext for an ensuing systematic and widespread campaign of attacks directed against the civilian population in the Kavango and Caprivi regions,” the NSHR charged.”The NSHR was also reliably informed that the prime perpetrators of these grave breaches and violations include members of a special military intelligence unit of the Namibia Defence Force (NDF), known as Tornado, as well as Special Field Force (SFF) members of the Namibian Police.During these violations, Tornado was based at or near Nepara village in Western Kavango.At the peak of the perpetration of the attack, this battalion had its headquarters in the NDF military base near Rundu.”Most of the gravesites found are located in an area up to 30 kilometres north of Namibia’s border with Angola, opposite the Ohangwena Region.The NSHR was tipped off by former members of NamPol and NDF, concerned citizens in the Ohangwena Region, and members of the Policia Nacional de Angola (PNA).The first grave was found near Oidilona village in the Omulunga area, some 20 kilometres inside Angola, allegedly containing the remains of 60 unidentified people.”We are currently evaluating other reports of another two much larger gravesites in this area, which allegedly contain the remains of between 1 000 and 1 600 unidentified people.”Ya Nangoloh links these large numbers to the fact that the Namibian Government in 1997 admitted it had handed over about 2 000 people to Angolan authorities between 1994 and 1997.Two other graves, 50 metres from each other, were found at Omamwandi village, some 15 kilometres north of the Namibian border.One is said to contain the remains of four people, while the bigger one contains the remains of 14 people, according to villagers.Interestingly, large Christian crosses were cut into the bark of surrounding trees, according to video footage shown at yesterday’s presentation, while other trees have pictures of AK-47 assault rifles cut into their bark.The third grave found contains the bones of at least four people – three adult women and one child.This site is located in the bush in the Okakango Kongolo area, some 10 kilometres north of the Namibian border.The fourth site was discovered in Oluungu forest near Olupale village, allegedly containing the remains of 28 unidentified victims of a 2002 massacre.A fifth grave was found in the Odila village area, also in Angola.It allegedly contains the remains of 40 people, although some said only people are buried there.A sixth gravesite allegedly contains the remains of at least 30 people.It was found inside Namibia, between Ohauwanga and Oshingadu villages.Some of the unidentified people whose remains are buried there were allegedly from Oshaango, Onambutu and Epinga as well as from Oheehonge and Odibo villages inside Namibia.These victims, according to what villagers told the NSHR team, before being killed towards the end of 1999 or in the beginning of 2000, were allegedly first branded ‘Unita bandits’, but were former South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) or Koevoet members.Before Independence, SWATF and Koevoet soldiers fought alongside the South African Defence Force (SADF) against Swapo liberation forces.Unita is the Portuguese acronym for União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola.Namibian and Angolan Government soldiers together launched an attack against Unita rebels on December 10 1999 from Namibian soil near Rundu.The areas where these gravesites were discovered are communal lands of the Ovakwanyama people.The identities of those whose remains are buried in the unmarked graves are unknown to the local Ovakwanyama people, who say they buried them.According to the NSHR, this suggests that the victims might have been deliberately transferred for that purpose from conflict areas along the Kavango River or from the Caprivi Region.Therefore, the victims might not be ethnic Ovakwanyama people.At the same time former President Sam Nujoma should be investigated under international laws, the NSHR said, as some of the graves might date from a few years earlier than 1999, when Nujoma had ordered security forces to shoot to kill if they spotted people crossing the border. Presenting the findings, NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh said he himself went to southern Angola between June and July this year to investigate claims by villagers on both sides of the border that there were mass graves dug after Independence in 1990.Local villagers guided the NSHR team to the various sites.”We believe that the victims whose remains are buried in the six grave sites found, might form part of the hundreds of victims of the crime of enforced disappearance who were ‘cleared’ from their residences along Namibia’s northern and north-eastern border between 1994 and 2003,” Ya Nangoloh told a packed hall of about 250 people in a Windhoek hotel.The venue had to be hastily changed, as the Polytechnic Hotel School informed the NSHR only 60 minutes before the start that it could not host the NSHR event, although that venue had been booked well in advance.No reasons were given.According to the NSHR boss, the dead were unlawfully transferred or expelled from their areas as a result of an “equally unlawful presidential decree” to that effect in September 1994.”This decree resulted from a mysterious armed killing in eastern Kavango which, in turn, was used as a pretext for an ensuing systematic and widespread campaign of attacks directed against the civilian population in the Kavango and Caprivi regions,” the NSHR charged.”The NSHR was also reliably informed that the prime perpetrators of these grave breaches and violations include members of a special military intelligence unit of the Namibia Defence Force (NDF), known as Tornado, as well as Special Field Force (SFF) members of the Namibian Police.During these violations, Tornado was based at or near Nepara village in Western Kavango.At the peak of the perpetration of the attack, this battalion had its headquarters in the NDF military base near Rundu.”Most of the gravesites found are located in an area up to 30 kilometres north of Namibia’s border with Angola, opposite the Ohangwena Region.The NSHR was tipped off by former members of NamPol and NDF, concerned citizens in the Ohangwena Region, and members of the Policia Nacional de Angola (PNA).The first grave was found near Oidilona village in the Omulunga area, some 20 kilometres inside Angola, allegedly containing the remains of 60 unidentified people.”We are currently evaluating other reports of another two much larger gravesites in this area, which allegedly contain the remains of between 1 000 and 1 600 unidentified people.”Ya Nangoloh links these large numbers to the fact that the Namibian Government in 1997 admitted it had handed over about 2 000 people to Angolan authorities between 1994 and 1997.Two other graves, 50 metres from each other, were found at Omamwandi village, some 15 kilometres north of the Namibian border.One is said to contain the remains of four people, while the bigger one contains the remains of 14 people, according to villagers.Interestingly, large Christian crosses were cut into the bark of surrounding trees, according to video footage shown at yesterday’s presentation, while other trees have pictures of AK-47 assault rifles cut into their bark.The third grave found contains the bones of at least four people – three adult women and one child.This site is located in the bush in the Okakango Kongolo area, some 10 kilometres north of the Namibian border.The fourth site was discovered in Oluungu forest near Olupale village, allegedly containing the remains of 28 unidentified victims of a 2002 massacre.A fifth grave was found in the Odila village area, also in Angola.It allegedly contains the remains of 40 people, although some said only people are buried there.A sixth gravesite allegedly contains the remains of at least 30 people.It was found inside Namibia, between Ohauwanga and Oshingadu villages.Some of the unidentified people whose remains are buried there were allegedly from Oshaango, Onambutu and Epinga as well as from Oheehonge and Odibo villages inside Namibia.These victims, according to what villagers told the NSHR team, before being killed towards the end of 1999 or in the beginning of 2000, were allegedly first branded ‘Unita bandits’, but were former South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) or Koevoet members.Before Independence, SWATF and Koevoet soldiers fought alongside the South African Defence Force (SADF) against Swapo liberation forces.Unita is the Portuguese acronym for União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola.Namibian and Angolan Government soldiers together launched an attack against Unita rebels on December 10 1999 from Namibian soil near Rundu.The areas where these gravesites were discovered are communal lands of the Ovakwanyama people.The identities of those whose remains are buried in the unmarked graves are unknown to the local Ovakwanyama people, who say they buried them.According to the NSHR, this suggests that the victims might have been deliberately transferred for that purpose from conflict areas along the Kavango River or from the Caprivi Region.Therefore, the victims might not be ethnic Ovakwanyama people.
