Mercenary says he was ordered to kill civilians

Press, 6 February 1981, Page 6

Mercenary says he was ordered to kill civilians

NZPA Salisbury A former white mercenary with a South African special unit in Angola has admitted that he took part in the systematic killing of Angolan civilians on the orders of his South African officers.

The mercenary, identified only by the code name “Cowboy,” said he served a two-year contract with South Africa’s 32 Battalion, obeying orders to kill, black Angolans, destroy their homes, and kill their livestock. “Our main duties with 32 Battalion were to eliminate all the civilians in the area and destroy all the food and water and to hammer South-West Africa People’s Organisation guerrillas,” he said. The 30-year-old mercenary, a former member of the Rhodesia Light Infantry Battalion, said : civilians were systematically killed to prevent intelligence

being given to S.W.A.P.O. and to prevent moral and material support. He told how he had personally been involved in killing Angolan civilians. “We killed some civilians and buried the men near a church. We also put dead cattle in the water to contaminate it,” he said. The killing of civilians was “a regular thing” with 32 Battalion, the mercenary said. "If we saw any civilians in the area we had to kill them in case they gave our position away. Our officers told us just to kill and bury them, just to get them out of the way/’ he said. The mercenary said he joined 32 Battalion after contacting its recruiting officer, a retired colonel. White mercenaries in the battalion were well paid, he said. "When I signed on as a staff-ser-geant for two years I was given 500 rand ($700) and

our pay was 850 rand a month ($1200) and when we finished our contract we got 10,000 rand ($14,000),” he said. The mercenary said he had been a professional soldier since leaving school at the age of 16. He had spent three years with the Australian' Light Brigade and nine < years with the Rhodesia Light Infantry Commando Battalion, taking part in cross border raids into Botswana, Zambia, and Mozambique against Rhodesian guerrilla bases. Asked why he had left 32 Battalion, he replied: “I got sick and tired of killing civilians. My job as a soldier is to kill the armed people of a different army insetad of killing civilians.”

He planned to remain a soldier, possibly by joining the Israeli Amy or any force that would take him, he said.