The aircraft was used to carry heavy weapons such as tanks and supplies of sorts. I had a terrible flight that day, as the plane was crowded and with the turbulence. As the aircraft navigated through the clouds, one felt as if the aircraft was falling down, leaving some of us breathless. What made it more terrifying was that Cubans, who were familiar with flying, also found it difficult to cope with the aircraft’s shaky movements.
Some of the Cubans were vomiting throughout the flight.
When we eventually landed at Luanda International Airport, there was a time when I vowed never to board an aircraft again. However, I kept on reminding myself that I was on my way to the Soviet Union and how else would I get there besides by plane? I had no choice unless I refused to go; a decision I was not prepared to make.
When we landed, we found some comrades waiting to take us to the SWAPO Transit Camp in Luanda. There we were given a big tent to sleep in and food. We stayed in that camp for a full month before we left for the Soviet Union.
While at the transit camp, we were occasionally given assignments to clean here and there and also taken to the port to offload cargo vessels.
The rest of the time we spent enjoying beer. We were well taken care of in the camp, as we were even given bundles of clothes for our own use, which we ended up selling to the Angolans. Remember, some of us had never experienced that type of life before. We had been all along deep in the bushes waging war against the enemy forces. Hence, I was surprised to see people drinking coffee and eating bread every morning.
I realised then that some people in SWAPO were living more decently than others. Especially those in the headquarters in the rear camps lived more luxurious lives than those at the battlefront, who sometimes went for days without food and drinking water. I started to admire the kind of life I found myself in for the first time since I became a PLAN fighter in 1977.
Early January 1984, we were told to get ready to proceed with our mission to the Soviet Union. Up until then, most of us did not know what we were going to be trained in, as everything was kept a secret from the beginning.
A SWAPO bus took us to Luanda International Airport where we boarded the Soviet airline, Aeroflot, a modern commercial plane compared to the Cuban cargo aircraft that brought us from Lubango. However, as we boarded the plane, we could not help recall the experience in the Cuban cargo aircraft. I was praying not to go through the same torturous exercise that we went through on our way to Luanda. To my surprise, when we took our seats, I felt the comfort of the aircraft – the seats were covered with white covers, there were airhostesses serving us with nice food, and when I put on the headphones there was nice music playing. It was surreal to me.
For the first time I really felt I was in SWAPO.
Our takeoff was very smooth and everything went well.
We left Luanda at about 18h00 and arrived in Moscow at around 07h00 the following day. I must say that our journey was full of joy, as we did not encounter turbulence throughout the flight.
My second experience of flying was actually different from the first one although we had spent the entire night in the air. It was a very enjoyable experience indeed.
On landing in Moscow, we were taken to a training facility north of the city, the Northern Centre. It was a training facility of the Soviet Union’s most feared State Security Service (KGB). The facility was kept secret and was only frequented by members of the service and us who were there for training. We later learnt that the centre was also training freedom fighters from different liberation movements in Africa and elsewhere across the globe.
We were warned never to talk about this facility to anybody else outside our group. We were to be escorted by KGB operatives every time we left the facility. We were not even allowed to talk to members of the public in the absence of a KGB officer.
This was where the best foreign intelligence officers were trained, especially those belonging to liberation movements like ours.
During the eight months that we were in training, we went through various techniques. Our group went through a special intelligence course, which was a combination of intelligence and military combat works techniques. This course was specifically designed for cadres who were to take up the challenges of operating within enemy military formations and also those who would be responsible for the formation of guerrilla cells within the enemy’s armed forces, as well as those responsible for the establishment of urban guerrilla units in various towns and cities. It was not a walkover course.
Some of us who went there with a poor education background found it tough to go through the course, as it was presented in English. Of course, we had some comrades who were helping translate from English to Oshiwambo but overall the course was difficult to comprehend, especially during the first two months.
The cold weather at times also compounded our dilemma, as we were not familiar with this kind of weather. Snow was falling all over and one could hardly touch the ground.
We were also taken through theory and practice. Since we were also being trained as battalion and brigade commanders, from time to time we were taken out for practical exercises on how to command military formations in the real world. We were often taken to the Soviet Union military installations where we were taken through joint exercises with the armed forces. We were made to command a mechanised battalion with tanks or simply to watch how their commanders deployed troops and tanks in the event of attacks by the enemy.
This part of the training was in addition to our main course special intelligence training. We learnt a lot besides what we knew already as some of us had just returned from the battlefield where we practically engaged enemy forces.
I had to pay particular attention to the intelligence part of the course, as I was already fully trained for combat reconnaissance.
At least I knew how to reconnoitre enemy targets, draw sketches of enemy positions and bases, lead fighting units into attacking positions and general tactics used by combat reconnaissance to mobilise people to cooperate with guerrilla fighters.
Another area of special interest to me during the course was that part of the military combat works. The course taught us how guerrilla units are formed and how best to fight the enemy from within by creating cells within enemy armed forces’ formations.
We learnt how to infiltrate and penetrate enemy units. By implication, we learnt how to create cells within the enemy formations: companies, battalions, brigades, and divisions, and also how to establish guerrilla units in urban areas to fight enemy forces around the cities and towns.
We dwelt at length on these critical issues during our training.
When not in classes, we would spend our spare time playing football and volleyball. We were required to do exercises every morning before breakfast and sometimes our hosts would take us out for excursions to zoos, cinemas and theatres. During practical exercises we would be taken into the city centre to conduct secret meetings with purported agents and contacts through brush contacts. We conducted surveillances on purported suspects, planted dead letter boxes (DLBs), debriefed and briefed supposed secret agents using underground trains and other selected places where we would not raise suspicion with the members of the public and local security agents
We left the centre as fully qualified special intelligence officers ready to implement want we learnt inside Namibia.
We held our final exercise towards the end of June 1984 at the southern region of the USSR before we returned to Angola in August 1984. The Republic of Angola was our second home; hence coming back to Angola was like returning home to Namibia.
• The book is available at the Book Den near Polytechnic of Namibia in Windhoek, Etunda filling station in Otavi, Omuthiya filling station, Okapana filling station in Ondangwa, Highway filling station (Selector) Ongwediva, Spar Shop Ongwediva, Book of Namibia in Ondangwa, Oshakati and Outapi, Hosea Kutako International Airport and at Bush War Publication in Durban South Africa.