The reeking port town that threatens to delay peace

Press, 16 August 1978, Page 8

The reeking port town that threatens to delay peace

By JOHN PLATTER, of United Press International (through NZPA) Walvis Bay, (Namibia) Nations have gone to war over less, but the drab harbour town of Walvis Bay on the Atlantic, barely metre than a quayside usually i shrouded in morning mist 'and reeking of fish, is one of those curious places that (threatens to hold up peace. White-ruled South Africa, citing historical precedents difficult to contest, claims 'the desert enclave for its own. although its nearest border is 660 km away. Walvis Bay, 1120 sandy square kilometres of it, is i sprawling Namibia’s only deep-water port. The nat--1 ionalist guerrilla movement, ;the S o u t h-West-Africa People’s Organisation, says lit must be reintegrated with The territory and is as adaImant about it as South Africa. About 35,000 people live j in the mostly grey, uniform houses in straight rows, wedged between the cold Atlantic seaboard and the high sand dunes of the Namib Desert, probably the oldest! on Earth. It forms a 160 km wide; “skeleton” coast the entire) western length of Namibia.) ;and is the graveyard of) many ships. A few kilometres south,! out of town, the South

Africans have established a' formidable military base. How formidable is a secret. But armoured Panhard cars, with 90mm guns swivelling, course through the dunes and South African Air Force traffic is busy. As a railhead connecting the port with the highland; capital of Windhoek, the port has- some commercial) importance, but primarily to) the Namibian economy. Toi South Africa, the strategic; role is paramount. The South African foreign minister (Mr Pik Botha) i recently visited the town and told its people they i belonged to South Africa.) Most of them are native; “southwesters” or Nami-) bian-s. Asked recently why South: Africa insisted on exercising; its sovereignty over an asset obviously necessary to ai new black government, Mr Botha replied: "What do you) mean, we’re hanging on to) it? It’s ours . . . We can’t go) giving away chunks of our land.” And in a letter dated Aug- ’ ust 1 to the United Nations Secretary-General (Dr Kurt, (Waldheim), Mr Botha said; ) that while it agrees Namibia | should be free. South Africa •believes the West violated the “letter and spirit” of the plan by bringing the issue of IWalvis Bay to the United ) Nations Security Council. 5 He indicated that the

(question could threaten the agreement on Namibian independence reached by ; South Africa with the five Western Powers — the I United States, Britain, France, West Germany, and Canada. | He said that there was no ; mention of the future of; Walvis Bay in the agreement! and that Pretoria was j “shocked” that the issue was; j raised before the Security! Council and added that his) Government “completely re-, jects” the council as “devoid of any legal or factual basis.” : The S.W.A.P.O. president ; (Mr Sam Nujoma), branded ;by the South African Prime. Minister (Mr John Voster)! as a “Marxist adventurer,” I I always has preferred a mili-' : tary solution, forcing the ) South Africans completely (out of Namibia by a gueri villa war. He calls South' ( Africa’s diplomacy “a monu--1; mental exercise in Boer bad •I faith.” •I In Pretoria. South Africa, )it is acknowledged quietly ■ that a "moderate” govern-, ; ment in Windhoek could ex- , pect to get the port as a gift I; in time — depending on good behaviour. Meanwhile, the military base there will; I be a compelling deterrent) i against a new Namibian! ' Government considering acI tive hostility towards its former colonial master and’ eastern neighbour.

The bay is a legacy of; Britain’s annexation of 100 years ago. Even the German! colonisers of 1884 recognised London’s claim — eventually ceded to the Union of South Africa in 1910 when Britain gave up the Cape Colony. Since 1919. when South Africa assumed a League of I Nation’s mandate over the (entire territory after the! ! defeat of Germany, Walvis | Bay has been administered; as an integral part of the' Even apartheid signs were dismantled a few years ago. These have been replaced; since South Africa recog-; nised early last year that; ; the enclave gave it a strong; ; bargaining factor, decided ito excise it and create a separate administrative area. Another legacy of 59 i years of South African rule — overfishing — is far more serious. Ignoring scientific warn-; ings of 10 years ago, when Namibia still boasted the | largest pilchard reserves in; the world, fishing fleets continued to vacuum the Atlantic for quick profits. Annual catches then were 1.5 million tonnes. Now they; are estimated at 46,000 tons. ; It will mean 50 years of; ■ careful husbanding to recreate the great pilchard shoals of just a decade ago.