Border-line bonding Border lines are places of buried history, of battles, tombstones and memorials. They are vehemently protected and viciously contested, and in the end, with time and change – and brotherhood, they are ultimately transcended. We were discovering the tragic sites of the Angola-Namibia border conflict on a trip to Angola, having entered the country at Ruacana and travelling eastwards to exit at Nkurenkuru. It was a walk down the memory-lane of history, revealing evidence of conflict, clashes and controversy. Our aim was to start at Naulila, the place where it began a hundred years ago, and end paying our respects to those who fell at Cassinga in 1978. The last and most controversial cross-border conflict was on 1 April 1989 when PLAN fighters crossed the border, breaking the ceasefire agreement and threatening years of negotiation and the anticipated Namibian independence. Since then, we have, thankfully, celebrated 25 years of peace. Our group of friends couldn’t have been more different, with people from diverse backgrounds and heritage, yet all had similar interests and inclinations. It comprised ex-combatants from both sides of the Angolan conflict, SWAPO PLAN (People’s Liberation Army of Namibia) and SADF (South African Defence Force), and it consisted of people from a variety of nationalities. We had Oshiwambo-, English-, German- , Portuguese and Afrikaans-speakers, some whose countrymen had been involved in the border disputes, and we had a few younger ‘born-frees’ who were fortunate to have been born into the generation after Namibian independence. Regardless of our origins, what we uncovered on our travels was fascinating to all and drew us together through our common humanity and our interest in the history of our country. The border friction and the first major confrontation began between colonial forces at the outbreak of World War One and culminated in the battle of Naulila at the end of 1914. Although the Germans in German South West Africa and the Portuguese in Angola were not officially at war until 1916, the conflict arose when three German officers who had entered Angola without permission were shot by Portuguese troops. They were amongst the thirteen members of the Schutztruppe, under Dr Hans Schultze-Jena, who travelled to the Angolan border to receive supplies that had been sent overland when the usual supply route was cut off by the British. Schultze-Jena was halted by a Portuguese officer and the group was asked to accompany the officer to Fort Naulila. As the story is recounted in some sources, shooting broke out when Schultze-Jena decided to force his way out of Naulila and reached for his weapon. Two German officers and Dr Schultze-Jena were killed in the altercation. The German retaliation was swift and harsh, first with an attack at Fort Cuangar resulting in 28 deaths and the capture of rifles and goods, before they destroyed the fort. It was followed by attacks on a number of forts, including Fort Mucusso, which was razed to the ground after the defending troops surrendered. Prisoners were taken and cattle and provisions were requisitioned. The Germans then organised an even stronger punitive attack on Fort Naulila in retaliation for the deaths. The 500-strong regiment under Major Viktor Franke was transported from Karasberg to Otjiwarongo by rail, from where they continued by foot and on horseback through Okaukuejo and the Owambo regions to the Kunene River. This was a major expedition across the country that involved travelling through sand and bush in sweltering heat. They attacked the fort on 18 December. Although the Portuguese put up a strong resistance, they were eventually forced to retreat when their defences were breached. It is estimated that there were 150 Portuguese soldiers killed or wounded, with 31 German losses. Another piece of the story is one that brings the human element to war, when people are caught up inadvertently in circumstances that are out of their control. It involves two police officers stationed on opposite sides of the border who had become friends, Oswald Ostermann on the German side and Ferreira Durão on the Portuguese. Cut off from civilisation as they were at their far-flung posts, they appreciated the opportunity to occasionally row across the Okavango River and enjoy a dinner at the neighbouring police post. When war broke out, Portugal’s neutrality enabled them to continue their friendship, each agreeing to let the other know if they received any news. When the Germans arrived to take revenge for the Naulila attack, Ostermann’s command was assumed by the higher-ranking official and he was unable to warn his friend at Fort Cuangar of the impending assault. In the early morning the Germans attacked. In the mayhem, thinking a rebellion had broken out in the fort, Durão alerted his fellow soldiers and ran out in his pyjamas. He was killed in the crossfire. Our group explored the forgotten and unkempt memorials erected at Naulila for the Portuguese and Germans killed in the conflict. Time had taken its toll, the old story was unknown to the local people of the area, who had been displaced over the years, and the stones had crumbled into the earth with the memories of the time. Not too far from Naulila, Calueque Dam was the site of more recent border line history. A strategic collection point from which water is channelled into the north, the dam, situated on the Angolan side of the Kunene River was closely guarded by the South Africans in the 1970s and 80s. It was bombed by the Cubans on 27 June 1988, killing eleven South African soldiers. The incident had an enormous psychological impact on the South Africans, revealing that Cuba was able to control the air space and could potentially move southwards and invade South West Africa/Namibia. It is often regarded as one of the turning points of the war, speeding up negotiations, putting an end to the protracted Angolan civil war and, ultimately, ushering in a new era of independence. But, it was when we learned of innocent people caught up in the conflict that our group really felt the harsh injustices of war. Although, like many events of the time, the Oshikuku massacre is shrouded in so much controversy that it’s difficult to glimpse the truth hiding underneath, the mass grave at Oshikuku pulled on our heartstrings. We remembered those who paid the high price for peace. The eleven family members were shot at their homestead in Oshipanda when they refused to give information to soldiers seeking the whereabouts of a Mr Hubertus Mathews. The mass grave lies in the cemetery of the catholic mission in Oshikuku. Border lines have often been demarcated over a desk in the city, far from the people whose lives they affected. Providing natural boundaries between countries, rivers were often used as borders. What those drawing up the maps of German South West Africa and Portuguese Angola at the end of the nineteenth century didn’t take into account, however, was that kingdoms would be split. Mandume Ya Ndemufayo was the unfortunate Kwanyama king who had to straddle both sides of the border in an attempt to retain his independence and keep his kingdom united, seeking allegiance with various parties during the process. In this difficult balancing act, he stepped on toes, created enemies on both sides and paid the price of living on a border line. He was caught in machine gun fire (or, committed suicide, according to Kwanyama oral tradition) in February 1917. The memorial that was erected in his honour, marked with large sculptured mopane leaves, left a strong impression on us of yet another tragic border story. On the other side of the border, we visited nine graves that testified to Union Defence Force (the predecessor of the South African Defence Force) soldiers killed in the last battle with Mandume, reminding us of the many facets to history. At the town of Eenhana, just south of the border and one of the fastest growing towns in the Ohangwena province, a large shrine commemorates those fallen in the liberation struggle, their graves unearthed when the town was built. It showed us how time had moved on with development. It also taught us how essential it is to allow some kind of healing to take place when remembering the past to be able to move forward freely. Our trip down the memory-lane of border history ended at the mass graves at Cassinga, where we felt the angst of the place and welcomed the refreshing energy of change. These memorials and graves gave us much food for thought as our group gathered around the fire at our evening campsites to cook, chat and share the events of the day. There was so much pain in the fight for freedom and sovereignty in this area, involving European and local people alike. As in all countries in the world, disputes were heightened in these strips of land where people defended their countries and their liberty. We were relieved to see that over the years the air had been washed clean with the bright rain of hope and new vision. There were no longer sides. As we talked, laughed and got to know each other on our journey, we realised that we each had our own history that had to be acknowledged and respected. In the days of travelling together, the border lines in the group disappeared. What had become clear was that our different histories had become a shared history with time, and, our future, a common future.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 06:51:29 +0000
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