Mass grave: Pohamba wants info
2005-11-13 16:55
Eenhana - Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba Sunday visited the site of an apartheid mass grave discovered this week, calling on former soldiers of both sides of the liberation struggle to come forward with more information.
Two sites were found a few days ago at a former South African military base near the village of Eenhana about 850km northeast of Windhoek.
Several hundred members of the local Owambo-speaking communities served in the notorious "Koevoet" (Afrikaans for "crowbar") unit of South Africa's apartheid police and fought against their fellow citizens during the struggle for independence from South Africa.
"There must have been Namibians among those who buried our people before independence in 1990," Pohamba said.
"I urge all of them to come forward and give us details about this mass grave and other sites, nothing will happen to them, nothing.
"Our government has adopted the policy of national reconciliation," he said.
The mass grave was discovered by a construction company on Wednesday when caterpillars were busy with earthworks for a sewerage pond.
Police had laid the bones and sculls and partly melted plastic wraps found together with remnants of civilian clothes and faded uniforms on canvas.
"These are the remains of our people, they must be reburied once the police investigations are completed," Pohamba said.
According to regional police commander Armas Shivute, the bodies were wrapped in plastic and probably burnt, adding that many of remains seemed to have belonged to young people.
"We will do a detailed forensic investigation," he told AFP.