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Created: 11:38am on 03-24-2005
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Entry #358474, added on 07-09-05 @ 1:44 pm EDT.
[Entry Access Restriction] None.
Title:
A Story of Terrorism From My Past
Yesterday the spectre of terrorism visited its horror upon London. The previous day this wonderful, vibrant city was celebrating, having won the right to host the greatest sporting event on earth. The joy upon the faces of people of all races and cultures was wonderful to see. By contrast the images of yesterday were frightening, shocking and terrifying. Memories of 9/11 came flooding back as I absorbed the extent of the bombs these “terrorists” used to kill, main and terrify innocent people. It is a miracle that the death toll was not much higher.
Many of my favourite bloggers covered this topic yesterday, far more eloquently than I ever could. Late last night, unable to sleep I was watching CNN’s coverage when I remembered two acts of terrorism that were carried out in the country of my birth towards the end of the civil war. This morning I went onto Google to research these events. I felt a great sense of sadness as I re-read the atrocities that will, for me anyway, forever be linked with the word “terrorism.” In was the first time in my life I’d ever heard that word, and I was 13 years old.
3 September, 1978
Kariba is a holiday resort located at a spectacular lake on the border with Zambia. Built on the Zambezi River, the lake was completed in 1952 and opened by Queen Elizabeth the following year. I have spent many happy days at Lake Kariba, which was at one time the largest man-made lake in the world. It offers tourists a spectacular holiday… fishing, water skiing and game viewing of just some of the recreational activities this wonderful place offers its visitors.
The country’s civil war was being fought by freedom fighters supported by bases in Zambia and Mozambique. Zambian forces were under the command of Joshua Nkomo. Robert Mugabe was one of the commanders of the forces based in Mozambique. In the past few months there had been several mortar attacks launched from Zambia on the holiday resorts of Kariba and Victoria Falls, but these had adversely affected tourism and nobody had been killed during these attacks.
Air Rhodesia flight RH825 left Kariba Airport at 17.10, with 52 passengers and a crew of four. Most of the passengers had been relaxing during the weekend at this holiday resort, and were returning to the country’s capital city, then called Salisbury. The aeroplane was a four-engined Viscount named for one of the country’s rivers – The Hunyani. Five minutes after takeoff ground control received a distress call from the ‘plane. It had lost both starboard engines and the captain, John Hood, was forced to make an emergency landing. Another five minutes passed, during which the air hostesses made sure all passengers were strapped in before the emergency landing. Captain Hood’s last instruction” “Brace yourselves for impact” was made before the crash landed 50 miles from the nearest town in a field near the Whamira range of hills. Prophetically the English translation of this Shona name means “You Have Stopped”.
The ‘plane had been hit by a SAM 7 heat-seeking missile. 18 people survived the crash and ensuing inferno. Some of the less badly injured survivors managed to get water from a nearby village, although the villagers were reluctant to help because they risked been punished by the freedom fighters in the area for helping white people. When this small group walked back to the crash site they heard voices - raised and angry. When bullets began crashing into the trees around them they realised that guerrillas from Zambia had arrived at the crash site. They had no option but to flee, and they spent a terrifying night hiding in a river ditch. One of the people who spent the night with the group in a ditch was a young eight year old child. She didn’t make a sound all night, despite the fact that the guerrilla forces were searching and calling out to the survivors all night. One sound from that little girl would have brought instant death to the group.
The ten badly injured survivors that had remained at the crash site were shot dead by the guerrillas, who then looted the ‘plane and the passengers’ belongings. The bodies of some of these passengers were scattered – 10 to 15 metres apart as they tried to escape their murderers. There was evidence that several of the victim’s bodies were bayoneted after death. On 5 September 1978 the BBC interviewed Joshua Nkomo, who confirmed that his forces had brought the plane down. He also laughed in celebration of his “victory”, which he justified on the grounds that these planes usually carried military personnel, not holiday makers.
12 February, 1979
Two flights for Salisbury were scheduled to leave Kariba that afternoon. At 17.06 Air Rhodesia’s Flight RH827 sent a distress call to Kariba Airport’s Control Tower: “Mayday! Mayday!” At that moment Karoi farmer, John Ashton, looked up and saw a ball of flame falling from the sky. Unlike the doomed Hunyani, The Umniati had been hit in the jet pipe of the inner port engine by a Sam 7missle. It burst into flames and plummeted down into a ravine in the Vuti Area. For six hours the ‘plane burned, incinerating almost all of 54 passengers and five crew members beyond recognition.
The Anglican Dean of Salisbury, The Reverend John da Costa, spoke at the Memorial service for The Hunyani. His impassioned speech spoke for many when he condemned the leaders of the free world for their “deafening silence” on the atrocity:
“The horror of the crash was bad enough, but that this should have been compounded by the murder of the most savage and treacherous sort leaves us stunned with disbelief and brings revulsion in the minds of anyone deserving the name "human". This bestiality, worse than anything in recent history, stinks in the nostrils of heaven. But are we deafened by the voice of protest from nations which call themselves "civilised"? We are not. Like men in the story of the good Samaritan they 'pass by on the other side'. One listens for condemnation by Dr David Owen, himself a medical doctor, trained to help all in need. One listens, and the silence is deafening. One listens for loud condemnation by the President of the United States (Jimmy Carter), himself a man from the Bible-Baptist belt, and once again the silence is deafening. One listens for condemnation by the Pope, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, by all who love the name of God. Again the silence is deafening. I do not believe in white supremacy. I do not believe in black supremacy either......the ghastliness of this ill-fated flight from Kariba will be burned upon our memories for years to come. For others far from our borders, it is an intellectual matter, not one which affects them deeply."
I should point out that not only white Rhodesians perished in these tragedies – Asian and Black families from Rhodesia also lost loved ones. Internationally a number of other nations lost civilians: South Africa (3), Scotland (2), United Kingdom (4), New Zealand (1), Belgium (6) and Switzerland (1). The text of da Costa’s speech is available on the Internet, and was at the time released as a record. I believe his words are especially pertinent today as we now read of yet another encounter with terrorism. My geography teacher died along with her parnets on the Hunyani.
A final, ironic footnote: Joshua Nkomo, the man who celebrated the murder of innocent people, served as one of Robert Mugabe’s Vice Presidents until his death in 1999. Before his death he declared his passionate belief in Christ and his love of mankind. In the African culture belief in the afterlife is very strong, and it is said by those close to Nkomo that he was afraid of dying. He was afraid to face the 107 innocent souls who deaths he sanctioned and celebrated, and whose lives he so viciously cut short.
The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones."
William Shakespeare
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