REVEALED
Shock, condemnation of video of soldiers burning corpses
A gruesome video depicting soldiers of the South African and Botswana Defence Forces in Cabo Delgado in Mozambique disdainfully throwing corpses of alleged insurgents on a heap with other equipment and setting it alight, can have far-reaching international consequences – and South African soldiers can even be implicated in a war crime. ERIKA GIBSON talked to experts about this video that spread like wildfire in military circles this week.
REVEALED
Shock, condemnation of video of soldiers burning corpses
A gruesome video depicting soldiers of the South African and Botswana Defence Forces in Cabo Delgado in Mozambique disdainfully throwing corpses of alleged insurgents on a heap with other equipment and setting it alight, can have far-reaching international consequences – and South African soldiers can even be implicated in a war crime. ERIKA GIBSON talked to experts about this video that spread like wildfire in military circles this week.
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ACCORDING to Major General Sandile Hlongwa, commanding general of the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) joint operational headquarters in Pretoria, the incident occurred in November last year.
Own sources in Mozambique told Vrye Weekblad that it occurred on 29 November after an attack on the extremist insurgents’ Abu Faisel base at Nkomga, Nangade. The soldiers in the video are all members of the special forces of Botswana and South Africa that form part of Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM). The South African soldier, who can be clearly identified by his camouflage uniform and the South African flag on his arm, records the burning of the corpses with his cellphone.
Another person with a cellphone recorded the video that is now being shared. The reasons why the video only started circulating in military social media chat groups this week are unknown...
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Erika Gibson
JournalistErika Gibson is a specialist writer on military matters.