Brigadier General Bernard Nkawa was a Namibian military officer whose last appointment was as

Defence Attaché Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

DRC The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Career

PLAN career

Nkawa's military career began in

Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the S ...

, the military wing of

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

in 1975 and received military training at Oshatotwa in the Western Province of Zambia. He was then deployed to PLAN's Eastern Front covering Zambia and the Zambezi region. From 1977 to 1979 he attended a Battalion Commander course in the USSR. Upon completion of his studies he returned to Zambia and then transferred to Angola, as 2nd Brigade training commander at Tobias Hainyeko Training Center from 1980 to 1982. Then afterwards he was appointed chief instructor for Namibian instructors delegated to train special units of

FAPLA The People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola ( pt, Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola) or FAPLA was originally the armed wing of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) but later (1975–1991) became Ango ...

in guerrilla tactics from 1982 to 1983. He was then appointed Chief of Staff Rhino Battalion at the north western front in Techipa in 1985. Between 1988 and 1989 he attended the Infantry Brigade commander course in Yugoslavia. He was then repatriated back to Namibia under the UNTAG process.

NDF career

Nkawa was inducted into the

Namibian Defence Force The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) comprises the national military forces of Namibia. It was created when the country, then known as South West Africa, gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Chapter 15 of the Constitution of Namibia establ ...

as a pioneer with the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

at Namibian Independence. He was then appointed 261 Battalion second in command(2IC) between 1990 and 1994. He was then transferred to 124 Battalion as a second in command between 1994 and 1998. Between 1996 and 1997 he was deployed to UNAVEM III in Angola as deputy contingent commander. He was then promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

and appointed Commanding Officer from 1998 to 2001, during this period he was deployed to the DRC under Operation Atlantic in the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War,, group=lower-alpha also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War and sometimes referred to as the African World War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year a ...

between 1998 and 1999 as a battle group commander in the eastern front. He participated in anti UNITA operations in the Kavango region and southern Angola known as Operation Mandume from 2000 to 2002 as the Battalion commander. He was then appointed 26 Motorised Infantry Brigade Commander from 2001 to 2008. Between 2008 and 2010 he was the Commandant of the

Oshivelo Oshivelo is a settlement in northern Namibia. Transport and infrastructure Oshivelo has a clinic that in 2014 was refurbished and named after Catherine Bullen, a woman that died here in 2002 due to inadequate facilities. In early 2005, the n ...

Army Battle School. 12 Motorised Infantry Brigade was his next command between 2010 and 2014 as General officer Commanding. He was then appointed to the

as a Defence Attache between 2014 and 2018. He retired in 2018 and died in a motor vehicle accident in the Zambezi Region in November 2020.

Qualifications

* Senior Staff Course and masters in Military science, 1993-94-India * Advance Military law 1996 * Defence Management-2000 * Executive Course in Defence Management 2001 * International Senior officers Peace Support Operations Planner 2004 * Executive course in Security Section governance, 2005 * 2007 National Defence College- Kenya

Honours and decorations

*Grand Commander of the Most distinguished order of Namibia 2nd class * Army Pioneer Medal ribbon

Namibian Army Pioneer Medal * Army Ten Years Service Medal Ribbon

Army Ten Years Medal * Army Ten Years Service Medal Ribbon

NDF Ten Years Medal *

Army Twenty Years Service Medal * UNAVEM Medal ribbon

UNAVEM Medal *

NDF Campaign Medal *

Mandume Ya Ndemufayo Operation Medal

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nkawa, Benard 1958 births Namibian military personnel 2020 deaths People's Liberation Army of Namibia personnel