Statement by , President of SWAPO

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Author/Creator World Council of Churches Consultation (Lusaka, , May 4-8, 1987); People's Organisation of (SWAPO); Nujoma, Sam Date 1987-05-04 - 1987-05-08 Resource type Transcripts Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa, Namibia Coverage (temporal) 1987 Source World Council of Churches Library and Archives: Programme to Combat Racism; microfilm created by the Yale University Divinity Library with funding from the Kenneth Scott Latourette Initiative for the Documentation of World Christianity., Yale University Divinity Library, Programme to Combat Racism [microform], 4223.3.11.6/2; mf. PCR 177 (from frame 221 to 629) Rights By kind permission of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Format extent 5 pages (length/size)

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http://www.aluka.org SOUDARITY - FREEDOM - JUSTICE

SOUDARITY - FREEDOM - JUSTICE Storatemen y Sacomaen Statement by Sam Nujoma President of SWAPO May 4-8, 1987 South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) Of Namibia L

STATEMENT BY SAM NUJOMA, PRESIDENT OF SWAPO DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN LIBERATION MOVEMENTS (ANC, PAC AND SWAPO) AND THE CHURCHES LUSAKA, ZAMBIA MAY 4-8, 1987 Your , Dr. , President of UNIP and of the Republic of Zambia; The Right Reverend Archbishop Makhulu; Distinguished Participants; Comrades and Friends, I would like, on behalf of SWAPO and in the name of the embattled Namibian people, to express deep gratitude to the World Council of Churches, in particular, to our friends of the Programme to Combat Racism, for the important decision that they have made to organise this historic meeting between the liberation movements of Southern Africa and the world church community. The historical significance of this meeting lies in the fact that it is being held at a time when the situation in the region is continuing to deteriorate. Acting with the desperation of' the doomed, the regime has refused to lift the draconian state of emergency which it has imposed on the people of South Africa some eleven months ago. Tens of thousands of the oppressed blacks in South Africa are going through the agony of detention without trial and torture. Many others are dying with every week that passes at the hands of the apartheid troops and police. Similarly, in its effort to prolong the apartheid criminal system at home, the racist state is continuing with its brutal acts of destabilisation against the neighbouring independent African States. The latest expression of Pretoria's campaign of destabilisation was killing of innocent Zambians in Livingstone ten days ago. The aim of this destabilisation campaign is to intimidate the neighbouring independent African countries with a view to forcing them to give tip their support for victims of apartheid state terrorism in South Africa and Namibia. Through the pressure of destabilisation. Pretoria wants to reduce the sovereignty of the neighbouring independent states to the level of Bantustans and, therefore, to be able to control them. In this same context racist South Africa is refusing to allow people to exercise their right to self-determination and national independence. It is continuing to block the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 435 which alone proveds the basis for the peaceful achievement of Namibia's independence. The regime is thus continuing with the brutality of its army and police against the Namibian people. Despite the black-out of news and information which Pretoria has thrown over the situation in Namibia for several years now, numerous horror stories are being reparted every week that passes. Frustrated by the fact.that the broad majority of the Namibian people have rejected Pretoria's puppet show in . the of occupation operates on the assumption that every African who is not working for the apartheid regime is either a member or a supporter of SWAPO and. therefore, a legitimate target of its colonial repression. In this connection, abductions, detentions. cold-blooded assassinations and wanton destruction of people's property are the order of the day. Thus with every week that passes. there are reports of a fresh campaign of intimidation against the Namibian people, especially in northern Namibia. People's houses have been burnt down by the racist occupation troops in Nnmibia. In the course of the last two weeks alone. the occupation army has bombed and set on tire at least 14 local schools in northern Namibia. Documents detailing ti-is scorched earth policy are available at this Conference: also. I am sure that our compatriots who have arrived here yesterday from Namibia will testify to the fact that a veritable reign of terror is, indeed. taking place in Namibia. Like schools, church hospitals. printing facilities and other property serving the African population, are also considered by the racist army as legitimate targets of destruction. They are. therefore. being continuously sabotaged and destroyed. The killings, rapes and abductions of innocent people have become a tragic daily occurrence in Namibia. Life has become so cheap for the South African troops that are occupying Namibia. Sadism is today one of the main principles governing the behaviour of the occupation army. Hundreds of civilian victims killed in cold- blood by the racist troops' are reported as SWAPO guerrilla casualties. The desecration of dead human bodies has become a favourite hobby for the racist soldiers in our country. Such bodies are often draped around the wheels of moving South African military vehicles or suspended underneath flying South African military helicopters and displayed to the public like objects of entertainment. Such are the tragic proportions that colonial repression in Namibia has reached. If this account of atrocities was given by SWAPO alone, many people in the 'vestern media would refuse to treat it with seriousness that it deserves on the pretext that it cannot be verified. However, the pressmen who are here in Lusaka today have before them representatives of the Namibian church community who are ready to testify to the effect that colonial violence in Namibia has reached new and alarming levels. I would, therefore, like to appeal to all the representatives of the world church community who are present here today to use all their media channels to give maximum publicity, throughout the world, to the tragic plight and just struggle of the Namibian people. Mr Chairman, distinguished participants, comrades and friends, I have started my presentation with an outline of the tragic situation prevailing in our country in order to stress the urgency of the need to bring about immediate implementation of the UN Plan for the independence of Namibia. But in V doing, I am quite mindful of the fact that today's programme regarding this Conference is centred around the 9th Anniversary of the Kassinga Massacre. Mr Chairman, when the last chapter of our people's long and bitter national liberation struggle is finally written, the Kassinga Massacre of May 4, 1978, will stand out as the most unforgettable event. This was the day on which the limitless nature of apartheid brutality was revealed in its most blatant and tragic forms. On that day, jet bombers and helicopter gunships of the South African occupation army cold-bloodedly murdred about 1,000 innocent and unarmed civilians in Namibian refugee camps in southern while seriously wounding several hundreds of others. About 250 people were taken prisoners to a concentration camp at Mariental some 200 km south of 18indhoek where they were subjected to six years of cruel treatment. Many others have disappeared for good. At the time of the raid. Kassinaa was the main transit centre and settlement for Namibian refugees in Angola. It accommodated over 4.uu0 people in oisuseu buildings and tents. it was equipped with a clinic, a school, a library, a kindergarten, food stores and facilities for repairing trucks and other vehicles used mainly to transport food and clothes to the refugees at other transit centres in southern Angola. The majority of the Namibian refugees at Kassinga were young people, mostly teenagers who .had fled the colonial system of inferior "Bantu Education". There were also elderly men and women. Most of them had been at the camlp for only a few days or weeks. Pretoria knew perfectly well that Kassinga was, indeed, a refugee camp and not a military base. But the regime attempted to make the world believe that it was a military headquarters of SWAPO. This false claim was. of course. given a lie b the international media whose reporters went to the scene of that tragic event to see for themselves that victims were in fact children, and elderly people. The attack on Kassinga was launched by air-borne troops using heavy bombers and helicopter gunships which took off from the South A.frican base at (;r((tfontein in northern Namibia. Twelve French made Mirage jets. British made Hercules troop carriers and five helicopters took part in this barbaric military operation. On the same day, approximately sixty South African armoured cars. supporled by helicopter gunships, launched simultaneous and vicious attacks on three other smaller Namibian refugee transit camps at Chetequela. Cuamato and Ndabordola. The wanton bombardment of Kassinga began at 7:15 tin. Huge frageinentation bomnbs were dropped on the meeting square where most of the camps' 4,098 residents were assembled for their usual morning meeting. The Mirage jet bombers instantly killed and maimed a large number of the population including nearly all the medical staff and patients in the nearby calmp clinic. The clinic itself, the garage. the food storage rooms, offices and all other buidings in the settlement were reduced to burning rubbles. The racist soldiers indiscriminately opened fire, shooting at everyone and at everything within range. Many people were shot at point-blank range, or bayonetted to death. Many others were ruthlessly butchered as they tried to run away from the camp.

Chemical weapons, including inflammable phosphate liquid, teargas and paralysing nrve gas were also used. Many children died of these gases while many other people died in the bush as a result of serious wounds. Today the mass graves containing the bodies of hundreds of the victims of that horrible carnage stand as a permanent testimony to the fact that apartheid fascism is what is rotten today in the heart of humanity. The Kassinga Massacre was designed to break the resistance of the Namibian people to colonialism by making them feel that even in exile they are still not safe from the brutal might of the apartheid state. Another important reason was to frustrate the negotiation process then going on concerning Resolution 435. But the strategy did not succeed. The Namibian people have remained undaunted in their struggle and firm in their resolve to achieve Namibia's freedom and independence. Also guided by its single-minded commitment to the interest of the oppressed Namibian people, SWAPO did not give in to Pretoria's sinister tactics to sabotage the negotiation process. It continued the negotiation which resulted in the adoption of Resolution 435 five months later in that year. The Kassinga Massacre, I would like to repeat, Mr Chairman, is a very unforgettable episode in the Namibian people's long struggle against apartheid colonialism. It will forever live in the memory of Namibia's present and future generations. Thus, on this occasion. SWAPO pays tribute to those innocent sons and daughters of our oppressed but struggling people whose precious lives were so cold-bloodedly taken by the sadistic defenders of the apartheid crime against humanity. As if Kassinga was not enough a sad commentary on the nature of the apartheid system, the South African occupation army carried out, in 1982, yet another massacre of defenceless civilians at village in northern Namibia, using its notorious unit. Members of this killer unit rounded up people in the village at night on March 10, 1982, and cold-bloodedly murdered a whole lot of women and children. The killing of the Namibian people and the wanton destruction of their property is, as I have said earlier, continuing today without abatement. and in response to this apartheid state terrorism, sons and daughters of the Namibian people are today fighting with arms in hands to shake off the yoke of colonialism. Turning now to the question raised in the document outlining the aims and objectives of this conference that many churches are worried about "violence and communism" with regard to the liberation movements of southern Africa, I wish to state SWAPO's position. We in SWAPO consider ourselves, first and foremost, as Namibian patriots and revolutionary democrats. The one and only requirement for anybody to be a member of SWAPO is that he or she be opposed to all forms of foreign domination: that he or she be ready to fight and, if necessary, die in defence of the Namibian people's right to self-determination and independence. that he or she be committed to the unity of the Namibian people. Ideologically, SWAPO is opposed to the social evil of the exploitation of man by man. This is something which the broad majority of the Namibian people have been direct victims. We are, therefore. believers in the principles of social justice. The egalitarian ideas of socio-economic justice and equality are central to our political education. In this regard, we believe that the state of the future independent Namibia must have the power to check the excesses of capitalist greed. This is. of course. not the same thin- as communism. Moreover. we believe that both radical socialists and liberation theologians share a commitment to the ideals of social justice and equality. Their difference is. in SWAPO\s view, a matter of eschatology. i.e. belief or non-belief in life hereafter. We as a political organisation leave this issue to individuals. We admit both believers and non-believers into the ranks of our organisation. But we endeavour to sensitize both believers and non-belivers alike to be tommitted to the principle of social justice and equality. We. however, allow and encourage the believers in our ranks to freely practice their faith. Thus. inter-denominatical chaplaincy exists in SWAPO exile centres. In short. SWAPO is a liberation movement. A liberation movement cannot be confused s,,ith a political party, be it a Christian democratic party or a communist party. As a rule. parties have well articulated ideological positions. Liberation movements do not because they contain different class tendencies. The common denominator around which their members are recruited and mobilised is the fight against foreign domination and oppression. On the questhin of violence, we make no apology for the fact that after a century of foreign oppression genocidal military campaigns and unbridled economic exploitation, our moement has decided to take up arms to confront colonial violence with armed self-defence. It is enshrined in our movement's Political Programme that SWAPO does not glorify war. We uish that nobody had ever forced us to have to fight a war of national liberation. But the reality of prolonged colonial oppression in Namibia being what it is, we have been left %itht no alternative but to fight with arms in hand for our liberty and right to self- determination and independence. We are clear in our minds that if we had pretended that South Africa will give up it" colonial domination of Namibia without a fight, South Africa would not have even agreed to the principle of Namibia's independence: and that our country would not have reached tile present stage of advanced march to liberation. To those who would advise us not to fight colonial oppression wNith arms in hand. otur answer is: "showi us the available non-violent mens to Namibia's independence". But since war is not something that we have freely chosen but something which had been impowd on us, we have repeated, tirne and again. that we are ready to sign a ceasefire. any day. %sith South Africa in order to end the war in our country and to bring peace and reconciliation among all our people, believers and non-believers, blacks and whites. The blame that this has not happened over the last nine years of the existence of Resolution 435 rests solely and squarels on South Africa's shoulders. The suffering and hardships which that armed conflict has imposed on the Namibian people can, however, be ended sooner than later if all of us here and other men and women of goodwill redouble our efforts to exert maximum pressure on Pretoria and Washington to abandon their unjust insistence on the extraneous issue of linkage. Vve must also step up the pressure for sanctions against South Africa and all those companies that continue to do business with that repressive regime of South Africa. You should always remember in your anti- apartheid activities that detaching Namibia from the apartheid state will be one important battle oson in our overall struggle to bring the apartheid monster down. The struggle in Namibia and South Africa are not alternatives but complements, as such. they must be supported simultaneously. These are the challenges before all those of us odio are committed to a quick solution to the Namibian problem and apartheid oppression in South Africa. SWAPO is, on its part. committed to free. fair and democratic elections through the implementation of the UN Plan for the independence of Namibia. We will scrupulously observer the terms of Resolution 43S and abide by the verdict of the Namibian people. In conclusion. I would li!e to seize this opportunity to reaffirm our deep gratitude and sincere thanks to His Excellency President Kaunda. the Party UNIP. its government and people of Zambia for the support rcndered to the Niwnibian People. through our movement. Zambia has. since its independence, been subjected to the pressure of destabilisation by the Portuguese colonialists then in Mozambique and .\ngola, the rebel regitme in Rho tdesia and 110%k b anartheid South Africa. But it has remained firm in its support for tle liberation stru ggle in this region. Our thanks go also to the other i rontline States tiat are also % ictiais (it iretoria's destahilisation, in particular the People's Republic of .A ugilo. l5 e are, tourtherm(re, gratefu1l n 111 the progressive and peaceloving countries, organisalions and inddiials i, ha e and contintle to support our just strtggle for liberation. In his context. I would like to menlion the kWorld Cou ncil of Churcles and all its church mcinbers and orga nisa t i ls %ksiiIi h1:i%,c identified ihetnselves with our struggle and have given tus moral and material soupport .sL'r the Nears. I apl)eal to all of 'ou to remain by our side in the months aheald as tile strop,,Il for liberation approaches the critical staue ill both Namibia anwd South .\frica. I THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ATTENTION'