RACMP service with UNTAG (Namibia)

The Second Contingent

In 1989, Australian Army personnel were deployed to Namibia in South West Africa as part of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) Nambia. This deployment had been “off and on” for many years prior and was finally actioned in 1989. Initially, one SIB investigator was deployed; however, at the end of his six month period it was identified that further MP assistance was required. The story below was written by a SGT T.G. Dewar who was part of the deployment and provides a valuable glimpse into RACMP employment during the operation.

This is an exact retype of original story in the RACMP Corps Journal titled ‘Pointsman’ by SGT T.G. Dewar. Researched by Antony Buckingham, MP History Website.

After approximately ten years the long planned United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) was put into effect in South West Africa/Namibia. The Australian commitment provided was a HQ unit, 17 Construction Squadron and support elements.

The Australians of the first deployment force were replaced by a second contingent after six months. The majority of the Australians were placed in bases in the north of the country. Bases manned by Australians were Rundu (NE Border), Ondangwa (NTH), Logistic Base Grootfontein (LBG) (Centre NTH) and Windhoek (Capital).

The Military Police commitment to the mission by Australia was increased from one (CPL Jock Lang) to six, SGT Tim Dewar, SGT Peter Evans, SGT Ralph Lake, CPL Laurie Campion, CPL David (Larry) Larkham and CPL Les Smith.

Our responsibilities to the UN did not change and we were all committed to the UNTAG MP COY for the duration of the mission. Our SIB element SGTs Peter Evans (DETCOMD) and Ralph Lake setup and operated the SIS DET NTH which was based at LBG and the rest of us were based at LBG to assist with patrols at the UNTAG MP DET.

The SIS DET were kept very busy with a large number of thefts occurring in all bases and a number of fatal accidents. The SIS had an extremely large area of responsibility taking in three of the four large communities of UN personnel let alone numerous small centres. To add to their work load they were also required to complete numerous jobs and inadequate fatal traffic accident investigations that had occurred before they had arrived (a very professional pair).

The patrol personnel working at Grootfontein were also kept busy with numerous traffic accidents, minor investigations and long range patrols to conduct radar checks on remote localities. We worked with personnel from many different countries such as Canada, Poland, Denmark, Kenya, Malaysia, Italy and the United Kingdom. The time spent there gave the Australians the opportunity to see how good their training and knowledge really was.

All tasks allocated to or borne by the Australians were conducted with professionalism and showed that the training skills and standards of the Australian MPs compared to that of other countries was far higher. The biggest problem encountered by the Australians during the mission was the different languages used in the country and by all the UN personnel.

The elections in SWA/Namibia were a great success in the eyes of the UN and with the lack of trouble the elections week was brought forward earlier than was expected or planned, this enabled the early return home of the Australian contingent in Feb/Mar 90.

The major difficulty experienced by all personnel as well as the Australians was the lack of organisation or perhaps over organisation by the bearuacrats of the UN. In closing, the members of the UNTAG mission did benefit from the trip personally and I hope they pass this experience on to other members.