Editorial: Looking Forward Rather Than Back

FORMER President Sam Nujoma was right about one thing, when in his final words in his address to a Swapo press conference in Windhoek yesterday on the mass grave issue, he said: “We must look forwards and not backwards”.

Addressing the media on the subject of ‘the discovery of the mass graves at Eenhana in Ohangwena region and the events surrounding the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 on April 1 1989’, Nujoma outlined his version of the events which unfolded on that tragic day, and which resulted in the deaths of an as yet unknown number of Swapo combatants. History will of course document this event in detail, from the different viewpoints of both parties to the conflict, Swapo and the former South African regime, as well as of course, the role of the peacemakers, namely the United Nations.Blame cannot only be apportioned to one side and accountability for this tragic incident must be accepted by all three of the above.* Swapo, and no one other than the commander of the armed forces, its President, Sam Nujoma, must take responsibility for this.Swapo precipitously send its combatants back to Namibia, ostensibly to what the President termed their ‘bases’ here, although it would be hotly disputed that they ever had any inside the country.The whole aim of guerrilla warfare is hit-and-run tactics, and this was an art mastered by the Plan fighters, because even a regime as militarily strong as South Africa was then, had not succeeded in defeating the guerrilla army, even after more than two decades of fighting.On the other hand, they were operating on the principle of the (mistaken) belief that South African troops had already been disarmed and confined to their bases.We who documented the event at the time were convinced that Swapo fighters did not return to the country in a belligerent capacity and that South African troops should not have attacked them.* South African troops were the ones who fired first, and they did so without asking questions and/or looking to the UN to intervene.In the main, over the few days of fighting which ensued, it was Swapo combatants, and not SA troops, who were killed in big numbers.* The UN, for its part, has to accept a portion of the blame for not co-ordinating matters as well as it could have done to prevent a massacre of the kind that subsequently took place.The UN peacekeepers were only just in place in Namibia at the time, and had not yet deployed to all parts of the country.At the time of the tragedy, the UN took serious issue with The Namibian’s banner headline then, which read: ‘Ahtisaari to blame’.Nujoma’s version of events given at yesterday’s press conference is not necessarily the whole truth.The decision to send the combatants back on April 1 took the UN by surprise.It also provided the already disgruntled South Africans, unhappy about the ceasefire and a Swapo return (given that this was precisely what they had fought against for decades) with the opportunity to kill as many Plan fighters as they could before order was restored.In short, it is a very tragic chapter in our history, but one that was followed, at least, and at last, by free and fair elections in which Namibians finally had the chance to choose for themselves.We do need to finally lay the dead to rest, to accept that mistakes were made that cannot be unmade, and to accept that the ‘blame game’ at this point in our history would be a futile exercise.Let the historians gather all the information and piece it together.Let Namibians get on with their lives and not be sidetracked from their goals by disputing history and finding answers that are not easily found.In short, as former President Nujoma himself said, “we must work together for the common good and mutual benefit of all our people”.We must look forward, and not look back.History will of course document this event in detail, from the different viewpoints of both parties to the conflict, Swapo and the former South African regime, as well as of course, the role of the peacemakers, namely the United Nations.Blame cannot only be apportioned to one side and accountability for this tragic incident must be accepted by all three of the above.* Swapo, and no one other than the commander of the armed forces, its President, Sam Nujoma, must take responsibility for this.Swapo precipitously send its combatants back to Namibia, ostensibly to what the President termed their ‘bases’ here, although it would be hotly disputed that they ever had any inside the country.The whole aim of guerrilla warfare is hit-and-run tactics, and this was an art mastered by the Plan fighters, because even a regime as militarily strong as South Africa was then, had not succeeded in defeating the guerrilla army, even after more than two decades of fighting.On the other hand, they were operating on the principle of the (mistaken) belief that South African troops had already been disarmed and confined to their bases.We who documented the event at the time were convinced that Swapo fighters did not return to the country in a belligerent capacity and that South African troops should not have attacked them.* South African troops were the ones who fired first, and they did so without asking questions and/or looking to the UN to intervene.In the main, over the few days of fighting which ensued, it was Swapo combatants, and not SA troops, who were killed in big numbers.* The UN, for its part, has to accept a portion of the blame for not co-ordinating matters as well as it could have done to prevent a massacre of the kind that subsequently took place.The UN peacekeepers were only just in place in Namibia at the time, and had not yet deployed to all parts of the country.At the time of the tragedy, the UN took serious issue with The Namibian’s banner headline then, which read: ‘Ahtisaari to blame’.Nujoma’s version of events given at yesterday’s press conference is not necessarily the whole truth.The decision to send the combatants back on April 1 took the UN by surprise.It also provided the already disgruntled South Africans, unhappy about the ceasefire and a Swapo return (given that this was precisely what they had fought against for decades) with the opportunity to kill as many Plan fighters as they could before order was restored.In short, it is a very tragic chapter in our history, but one that was followed, at least, and at last, by free and fair elections in which Namibians finally had the chance to choose for themselves.We do need to finally lay the dead to rest, to accept that mistakes were made that cannot be unmade, and to accept that the ‘blame game’ at this point in our history would be a futile exercise.Let the historians gather all the information and piece it together.Let Namibians get on with their lives and not be sidetracked from their goals by disputing history and finding answers that are not easily found.In short, as former President Nujoma himself said, “we must work together for the common good and mutual benefit of all our people”.We must look forward, and not look back.