SACC to honour mass graves

2005-11-18 09:37

Johannesburg - The SA Council of Churches (SACC) on Thursday has offered to assist its Namibian counterpart in honouring those recently found in mass graves at Eenhana.

In a letter addressed to the Namibia Council of Churches, SACC general-secretary Molefe Tsele said he was "shocked" and "morally outraged" by the findings.

Three mass graves were found near the apartheid-era South African military base, about 850km northeast of Windhoek.

The bones were thought to be those of fighters from the South West African People's Organisation's military wing, Plan, who might have been killed in the so-called nine-day war in April 1989.

1966-1989 border war

The base was home to the SA Army's 54 Battalion during the latter part of the 1966-1989 border war.

Construction workers discovered a first mass grave containing human bones and ammunition 400m from the base. Tsele expressed the council's condolences to the Namibian people.

Tsele wrote: "There is a danger that the deaths of these soldiers will be dismissed as an inconsequential artefact of an unpleasant conflict that we would rather not recall.

"And, the people who committed these crimes will never be brought to justice."

Tsele urged South Africans who had information about these graves to come forward.

He said: "We invite them to help us to close this ugly chapter of our history by telling what they know."

- SAPA