Koevoet
Koevoet ( Afrikaans and Dutch for Kuhfuß (wrecking bar) english Crowbar was a) paramilitary special unit of the South West African Police to counter-insurgency , the priority in 1978-1989 South West Africa (now Namibia operated).
The unit pursued with the help of local trackers, mostly the San , SWAPO rebels in a guerrilla war , mostly using armored troop carriers of the Casspir type . The SWAPO charged the unit with torture and rape. With Namibia's transition to independence and the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, Koevoet was dissolved at the end of 1989.
Until Namibia's independence in 1990, the South African army deployed around 3000 San as trackers against the independence movement SWAPO. The Portuguese colonial rulers in Angola proceeded similarly, which led to the extensive expulsion of the San after Angola's independence in the 1970s.
history
After the First World War , the League of Nations assigned the former German South West Africa to the South African Union as a mandate area. South Africa retained the area even after World War II during the apartheid era and also after UN Security Council Resolution 435 , which asked South Africa to leave the country. During the period of decolonization , guerrilla wars broke out against the former colonial powers in numerous countries. This happened particularly hard in Angola , which borders south-west Africa to the north .
Since South West Africa was viewed by South Africa as part of the state, problems there fell within the remit of the police and not the military. After the independence movement SWAPO began the armed struggle against South Africa in 1961, it quickly became apparent that normal police forces were no match for SWAPO. The civil war in Angola also spread to South West Africa, among other things because South Africa tried to control southern Angola in order to have a protection zone for its economic and military-strategic interests in the southwest part of Africa.
Koevoet was the brainchild of Hans Dreyer , then Colonel , later Major-General in the South African Army . He was guided by the Flechas that Portugal had deployed in Angola and the Selous Scouts from Rhodesia ; each local tracker who fought under white officers on the side of the colonial powers.
During the period of its existence, Koevoet lost 153 men and killed at least 3861 suspected SWAPO members.
resolution
In 1989 Koevoet officially became part of the South West African Police (SWAPOL) controlled by South Africa . They supported the military Southwest African Territory Force (SWATF) in the fight against SWAPO. This accused Koevoet and the SWATF of numerous human rights violations, including rape and torture.
The question of what to do with Koevoet turned out to be one of the most difficult when Namibia became independent. The unit was only founded after Resolution 435, so it did not appear in the resolution and neither in the treaty that was supposed to give Namibia independence. Although officially a regular part of the South West African Police since May 1989, they continued to act as before and fought with the SWAPO. The UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari finally threatened to halt the entire peace process if the Koevoet problem were not resolved and the existence of the unity contravened the provisions of the agreement, which spoke of "lightly armed police".
Finally, UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar traveled to the country, whereupon Security Council Resolution 640 of August 28, 1989 was passed, calling for the dissolution of Koevoet and its command structures. Finally, South Africa's Foreign Minister Pik Botha announced on September 28, 1989 that 1200 Koevoet members would be liquidated; another 400 followed on October 30th. The demobilization took place under the supervision of UNTAG military observers .
Todays situation
After their dissolution, many members of Koevoet found employment in private security and military companies such as Executive Outcomes and later Sandline International , where they sometimes fought together with their former opponents of the Angolan army against their former UNITA allies .
At the end of April 2015, it became known that several veterans of the unit were being used as mercenaries for the Nigerian army against the terrorist group Boko Haram in Borno state.
Former Koevoets are used today, among other things, as part of neighborhood guards in the Namibian capital Windhoek .
The interest group of the Koevoet and SWATF, NamVet , has been demanding that former soldiers be recognized as war veterans for years . This was again rejected by the Namibian President Hage Geingob in August 2017. The former head of the Namibian Defense Force , Lieutenant General Martin Shalli , supported President Geingob's view. The approximately 25,000 Namibians who served in Koevoet and SWATF were part of the oppressive military apparatus of the South African colonization policy and thus made no constructive contribution to the country's liberation. The former President Hifikepunye Pohamba had also repeatedly rejected the request for recognition of war veteran status in the past. In doing so, he referred to Article 4 of the Geneva Convention III . These soldiers were not legitimate combatants . NamVet officials had unsuccessfully made demands for compensation against South Africa in the past because Koevoet and the SADF Territorial Force had played a leading role in the South African military engagement in Namibia and Angola. A similar advance before the South African High Court in Pretoria had already failed in 2012. Judge Moses Mavundla dismissed a motion by Khoisan Kingdom and the All People Party seeking legal action for the late incorporation of such former soldiers into the New South African Armed Forces ( SANDF ).
The Koevoet have been represented in Namibia by the National Patriotic Front political party since 2019 .
structure
Koevoet consisted of 3,000 men, most of whom were Ovambo tribesmen , who served under 300 white officers and non-commissioned officers. The officers came from the South African or South West African police and had undergone extra training with the South African special forces. 40 men each formed a platoon and were equipped with mine-protected, armored troop transports Casspir , one of which carried a 20-mm cannon. They spent a week in the bush and a week in the camp in Oshakati .
tactics
Koevoet was mainly busy tracking down SWAPO fighters who were on foot. They found their traces either through patrols in areas where SWAPO was often on the move, in areas in which an attack had recently taken place or through tips from the local population.
After Koevoet made a trace, a vehicle drove a few kilometers in the assumed direction; there a tracker looked for the continuation. If it was successful, the rest of the platoon followed. In this way, they were often able to reach the rebel groups moving on foot within a short period of time. Since the trackers were mostly able to estimate the time when the tracks were created and the speed of the rebels, the platoons mostly knew exactly when they would encounter the SWAPO. Shortly beforehand, they gathered in their armed transporters and attacked the rebels armed with RPG-7 armored rifles , AK-47s , carbines and submachine guns.
monument
In the area of the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria there is a memorial for the 165 members of the Koevoet troops who died in action in Namibia. The installation, known as the Koevoet Wall of Remembrance , was unveiled on April 6, 2013 by the founder of the paramilitary secret police and former Lieutenant General Hans Dreyer († 2015) during a ceremony. The entire system is a design by Malcolm Moodie . Its construction began around 2011. It consists of a curved wall segment that was built with rubble stones and carries several polished tablets. It stands on a small paved square in the park. The boards list the names of the fallen Koevoet police officers. In the center of the round memorial complex stands a cast double sculpture on a brick round base. It depicts two Koevoet members armed with automatic weapons; a white Koevoet policeman and a San in uniform pointing to a footprint on the ground. The double sculpture is a work by Brahm van Zyl. The work of Koevoet was controversial even before the end of apartheid in South Africa. The SADF -Oberbefehlshaber Constand Viljoen and Johannes Geldenhuys distanced themselves from the Koevoet methods they therefore regarded as cruel and barbaric as harmful to the morale.
literature
- Peter Stiff: The Covert War: Koevoet Operations in Namibia 1979–1989. Galago Publishing Pty Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-919854-03-7 .
Web links
- United Nations Transition Assistance Group (English)
- The history of Koevoet at koevoet.webklik.nl (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ SAIRR : Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1982 . Johannesburg 1983, p. 623
- ↑ Emsie Ferreira: The Koevoet unit ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . at koevoet.webklik.nl, accessed on October 14, 2012
- ↑ Liberation of Kidnapped Girls - The New Strength of the Nigerian Army. FAZ.net , April 30, 2015, accessed April 30, 2015 .
- ↑ David Smith: SA mercenaries are 'giving Boko Haram a hiding . Mail & Guardian, April 17, 2015.
- ↑ Namvet's Ndeunyema dumps PDM. New Era, December 15, 2017.
- ↑ Ex-Koevoet will never be regarded as war veterans - Geingob. The Namibian, August 27, 2017.
- ↑ The Southern Times: Ex Namibia defense chief backs Geingob on Koevoet saga… .as President says former apartheid SA soldiers cannot get veterans status . News from September 4, 2017 on www.southernafrican.news (English)
- ↑ Chris Szabo: Namibians who fought for South Africa in the border was seek end of marginalization . Article from April 15, 2016 on www.defenceweb.co.za (English)
- ↑ Oscar Nkala: Namibia war veterans vow to press SA for war compensation, benefits for ex-Koevoet, Territorial Force vets . Article from October 17, 2012 on www.defenceweb.co.za (English)
- ↑ Sapa, Independent Media: Khoisan soldiers lose court bid . News from May 18, 2012 on www. iol.co.za (English)
- ^ Chris Szabo: Koevoet members remember their fallen; deny atrocities . on www.defenceweb.co.za (English)
- ↑ Anonymous: KOEVOET Memorial Wall . on www.southafricanpoliceofficersmemorial.com (English)
- ^ De Wet Potgieter: Koevoet veterans: 'We don't give a damn for other people's wars' . News from the Daily Maverick from April 8, 2013 on www.dailymaverick.co.za (English)
