Back Koevoet (polisie-eenheid) Afrikaans Koevoet German Koevoet French 南西アフリカ警察対不正規戦部隊 Japanese Koevoet (politie-eenheid) Dutch Koevoet Polish Koevoet Russian

Koevoet

Koevoet
Operation K[1]
SWAPOL-COIN / SWAPOL-TIN[2]

Koevoet Memorial at the Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria
Agency overview
FormedJune 1979[2]
Preceding agency
Dissolved30 October 1989[3]
Superseding agency
TypeParamilitary
JurisdictionSouth West Africa
HeadquartersOshakati, Oshana Region[2]
Employees3,000 (c. 1988)[4]
Ministers responsible
Agency executive
Parent agencySouth Africa South West African Police (SWAPOL)

Koevoet ([ˈkufut], Afrikaans for crowbar, also known as Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counterinsurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL). Its formations included white South African police officers, usually seconded from the South African Security Branch or Special Task Force, and black volunteers from Ovamboland. Koevoet was patterned after the Selous Scouts, a multiracial Rhodesian military unit which specialised in counter-insurgency operations. Its title was an allusion to the metaphor of "prying" insurgents from the civilian population.[5]

Koevoet was active during the South African Border War between 1979 and 1989, during which it carried out hundreds of search and destroy operations against the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN).[6] Koevoet's methods were controversial, and the unit was accused of committing numerous atrocities against civilians.[7] Over the course of the war, it killed or captured 3,225 insurgents and participated in 1,615 individual engagements.[8] Koevoet was disbanded in 1989 as part of the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 435, which effectively ended the South African Border War and ushered in South West African independence as Namibia.[7]

  1. ^ Stiff, Peter (2004). The Covert War: Koevoet Operations in Namibia, 1979-1989. Alberton: Galago Publishing Pty Ltd. pp. 53, 121. ISBN 978-1919854038.
  2. ^ a b c Pitta, Robert; Fannell, Jeff (1993). South African Special Forces. London: Osprey Publishing. pp. 32–49. ISBN 978-1855322943.
  3. ^ Wren, Christopher S. (31 October 1989). "South Africa Disbands Special Police in Namibia". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  4. ^ Gleijeses, Piero (2013). Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991. United States: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 498–499. ISBN 978-1469609683.
  5. ^ Hooper, Jim (2013) [1988]. Koevoet! Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War. Solihull: Helion and Company. pp. 86–93, 113–119, 323. ISBN 978-1868121670.
  6. ^ Simon Chesterman (2007). Civilians in War (2001 ed.). International Peace Academy. pp. 27–29. ISBN 978-1-77007-328-9.
  7. ^ a b Green, Sparks. Namibia: The Nation After Independence. pp. 1–134.
  8. ^ De Wet Potgieter (2001). Total Onslaught: Apartheid's Dirty Tricks Exposed (2007 ed.). Zebra Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1555879884.

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