patth@ccnysci.UUCP (08/20/89)
Ported from PeaceNET: FROM: NAMIBIA SUPPORT COMMITTEE UN TELLS PRETORIA TO REMOVE TERROR UNIT FROM POLICE IN NAMIBIA Windhoek: August 11, 1989 - The 'peace)keeping' role of Koevoet, the counter)insurgency unit used by South Africa to hunt SWAPO guerrillas in the recent war of liberation, has come under increasing fire from several sources in the past two weeks. A team of US congressmen and human rights lawyers said today, after a fact finding trip to northern Namibia, that 'heavily armed Koevoet members are seen almost every night in remote areas, where they enter the homes of civilians on the pretext of looking for certain returnees.' The UN Special Representative, Martti Ahtisaari, said on august 9 that former Koevoet members were 'going through homesteads (in northern Namibia) trying to identify former SWAPO fighters, who had a right to exercise their legitimate option to lay down arms and return to Namibia as civilians.' Earlier this year, about 3,000 Koevoet members, feared throughout Namibia for their brutality, were unexpectedly incorporated into South Africa's colonial police to act as monitors in the independence process. Speaking to Afrikaans students at Stellenbosch, South Africa, Ahtisaari said this was contrary to provisions in the UN plan agreed by South Africa. His words follow close on a statement to the Security Council by the UN Secretary-General, Perez de Cuellar, who has just visited the territory. Koevoet, he said on 3 August, had earned an 'evil reputation' in northern Namibia. 'ex-Koevoet elements in SWAPOL (the police) had not adjusted to the new political situation and have continued to harass and intimidate the civilian population.' During Mr de Cuellar's visit to Namibia from 18 to 22 July, South Africa's Administrator General offered to 'scale down' the number of ex-Koevoet members used in the police in the north. But the UN Secretary General told the Security Council that 'they are not suitable for continued employment in the police force under the terms of the United Nations plan.' He would 'continue to strive' for full compliance with the plan. The Commonwealth Committee for Foreign Ministers on Southern Africa decided at its meeting in Canberra this week to send an observer mission to Namibia. It too strongly criticised South Africa's continued use of Koevoet personnel in the police. Meanwhile, in the capital Windhoek, the Council of Churches in Namibia complained in a statement last week that 'nothing seems to have been done to deal with the problem.' The presence of Koevoet, the church leaders said, damaged attempts to create an atmosphere in which free and fair elections had a chance./ends SOURCE: NAMIBIA COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange