S. Africa Raid in Botswana Kills 13; U.S. Recalls Envoy

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —  South African soldiers staged a lightning raid into neighboring Botswana on Friday, attacking the homes of black African National Congress dissidents and killing 13 to 15 persons, the military said.

To protest the incursion, the United States announced it was recalling the ambassador to South Africa, Herman Nickel.

Radio Botswana said among those killed in the predawn raid were a 6-year-old child and his uncle. It said some victims were shot at close range inside their bedrooms.

South African Defense Chief Gen. Constand Viljoen said the raiders included both black and white soldiers in camouflage uniforms. He said they attacked 10 houses in which ANC “terrorists” lived in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital. He said three women were among those killed.

Viljoen said two persons, either Botswana police or ANC members, opened fire on the raiders from a car and also were shot to death.

The outlawed ANC is fighting South Africa’s white minority government.

In Washington, the announcement of Nickel’s recall was linked directly by a State Department spokesman to the incursion into Botswana and to the capture last month of a South African patrol in Cabinda, Angola, apparently on a mission to sabotage the U.S.-operated Gulf Oil refinery there.

“We have decided to recall Ambassador Herman Nickel home for consultations to review the situation,” State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said.

The attack “raises the most serious questions about South Africa’s sincerity” in negotiations with the United States on bringing about a peaceful resolution to southern Africa’s problems, he said.

Radio Botswana said the raiders attacked shortly after midnight and fired heavy and light machine guns and mortars for about half an hour in at least five locations of the city, 10 miles northeast of the South African border.

At the Dutch Embassy in Pretoria, First Secretary Jacobus van der Elden said one of those killed was Somalia-born Achmed Geer, who once fled to Holland and was given refugee status. His wife, Roelfien Geer-Stoffer, 27, a Dutch citizen, was shot in both legs and was being treated at a hospital.

They had recently moved into a house that previously was occupied by ANC members, according to Western diplomats in Gaborone.

Botswana President Quett Masire called the raid an “act of brutality and violence” and said it was “particularly deplorable” because he had repeatedly assured Pretoria he did not allow guerrillas to use Botswana as a springboard for attacks on South Africa.

Shots Awaken Residents

Gaborone residents were awakened by scattered bursts of gunfire, Radio Botswana said. The attackers advised neighbors through loudspeakers to stay indoors and keep their lights off.

South Africa has repeatedly warned neighboring states it would make cross-border raids to destroy bases of anti-government guerrillas. In the last decade, South Africa frequently has raided Angola, as well as Mozambique and Lesotho.

Gaborone Police Commissioner Simon Hirschfeld said the raiders destroyed several houses and the victims of the raid were ANC refugees--members of the ANC who have sought refuge outside South Africa.

After the attack, the raiders climbed into vehicles and drove to the South African border.

Viljoen charged that ANC members in Gaborone had formed a control center for sabotage operations in the Transvaal province of South Africa.

“I want to clearly state that this operation was not directed at the government of Botswana or its people, but at clearly identified militant ANC terrorists,” he said.

Other ANC Targets

Viljoen said the army was aware of eight other ANC targets in Gaborone but said: “We hope the Botswana government would take action first to evict the ANC terrorists.”

In Cape Town, South African Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha issued a statement saying he had warned Botswana that Pretoria reserved the right to prevent acts of sabotage against South Africa from neighboring states and had asked Botswana to take steps against the ANC in Gabarone.