S.A. threatens to call off Namibia plan

Press, 6 April 1989, Page 10

S.A. threatens to call off Namibia plan

NZPA-Reuter Windhoek South Africa has threatened to halt Namibia’s United Nations-supervised countdown to independence unless the world body acts “within hours” against black nationalist guerrillas fighting Pretoria’s forces in the territory.

The Foreign Minister, Pik Botha, delivered an ultimatum to the United Nations to curb S.W.A.P.O. guerrillas, who are said to be infiltrating from Angola into Namibia where a bush war is raging despite United Nations peace-keeping efforts. He said in a letter to the United Nations Secre-tary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, that South Africa would suspend its observance of the United Nations plan for Namibia to achieve independence if there was no satisfactory response. Mr Botha told Mr Perez de Cuellar, “Unless active and effective measures are taken within the next few hours to stem the rapid deterioration of the situation, the whole peace process in Namibia is in danger of collapse.” An official said copies of Mr Botha’s letter were sent to the British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, and Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who are scheduled to meet in London today. More than 180 guerrillas of the South. West Africa People’s Organisation and 19 members of the Namibian police force have been killed since fighting began on Saturday, the day the United Nations launched a preindependence peace mission in the world’s largest remaining dependent territory. One South African army officer has also died after his unit backed Namibian police in battle, South African defence headquarters said. In an account largely

accepted by the United Nations, South Africa says the fighting began when S.W.A.P.O. infiltrated more than 1000 armed men into Namibia from Angola. S.W.A.P.O. says its men were already inside Namibia and looking for United Nations forces to whom they could surrender when they were attacked by the Namibian forces.

S.W.A.P.O. guerrillas were to have been withdrawn northwards beyond the 16th parallel in Angola, 160 km from the border. The head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Namibia will report today on his factfinding trip to the north of the South African-ruled territory. Martti Ahtisaari, special representative of Mr Perez de Cuellar, flew to northern Namibia yesterday to see parts of the 300 km battle zone where

security forces are fighting black nationalist rebels. “I am going north to see for myself,” Mr Ahtisaari said as he left a Windhoek airfield. Fierce battles raged on throughout yesterday in the dense bush of northern Namibia, despite the guerrillas’ mounting losses. A schoolteacher, Wedenge Jofiah, a witness to the initial fighting, told journalists how armed S.W.A.P.O. guerrillas arrived at his village on Saturday expecting to be greeted by United Nations peace-keeping troops. They were met instead by South African-led security forces who opened fire, killing 33 of them. No civilians died, but the village was devastated. The United Nations force was criticised yesterday for being ill-pre-pared for its task, thus allowing the clashes o develop into full-scale bush war. Cedric Thornberry, a senior Ahtisaari aide, said however, that deployment of the 7000-strong mission was behind schedule because of delays in funding the project. “There might have been a different situation had we been up to speed,” Mr Thornberry told a news conference. “This country is in very great danger of bleeding to death.” In a bid to minimise the damage to its peace mission for south-western Africa, the United Nations peace-keeping chief, Marrack Goulding, flew into

Luanda yesterday for talks on the Namibia crisis with 5.W.A.P.0., and the Angolan Government. “The idea is to arrange a ceasefire,” the United Nations Transitional Assistance Group’s liaison officer, Colonel Michael Moriarty, said. Angola and Cuba are co-signatories to an agreement sealed last December with South Africa which envisaged a peaceful transition to independence for Namibia in exchange for the withdrawal of 50,000 Cuban troops from the troubled border region. S.W.A.P.O. said at the time that it went along with the agreement, and gave a written undertaking to the United Nations that it would honour a ceasefire to facilitate the agreement.

Mr Botha said he learned yesterday that some 4450 rebel fighters

were deployed south of a ceasefire line that should have been observed from Saturday. Some were stationed within 600 m of the Angolan border with Namibia, he said. Mr Botha said in an interview later that he was also demanding a meeting within 48 hours with Angolan and Cuban military officials to discuss the border conflict. “This is it,” Mr Botha said in the interview. "S.W.A.P.O. cannot be allowed to get away with this any longer.”

He said South African intelligence reports indicated that S.W.A.P.O. had planned its infiltration at least as early as March 21, when tanks were moved 250 km south to bases within 50km of the border.

The intelligence reports indicated that S.W.A.P.O. could have acted in collusion with Cuban forces in Angola, he said.

“S.W.A.P.O. must now face up to the realities,” Mr Botha said in his second letter in two days to Mr Perez de Cuellar. “Effective and immediate steps must be taken to ensure its compliance with all its obligations.

"Otherwise ... the South African Government will have no option but to consider its reciprocal obligations suspended until such time as the United Nations Transition Assistance Group is in a position to ensure S.W.A.P.O.’s scrupulous observance of the provisions of the relevant agreements.”