Word: namibia
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Crocker's eleven-country expedition was aimed at testing the Reagan Administration's proposed alternative to the failed U.N. plan for bringing independence to Namibia, the South African-administered protectorate. The U.N. plan, which was supported by the Carter Administration, had called for a U.N. peacekeeping force to monitor a cease-fire in the 14-year-old guerrilla war between the insurgent South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) and South African forces. This was to have been followed by U. N.-supervised elections for a national assembly that would write a new Namibian constitution...
...stead, Crocker proposed that a constitutional convention, along the lines of the London conference t transformed Rhodesia into independent Zimbabwe, should be held prior to elections. The difference would be critical: under such a scheme, Namibia's predominantly white anti-SWAPO political parties, backed by South Africa, woulD be assured a role in a new Namibian government, even if they were defeated at the polls...
...surprisingly, the Crocker plan drew sharp rebukes from the six "front line" states that support black nationalism in southern Africa. They see the proposal on Namibia as a stalling tactic designed to buy time for South Africa. Representatives of the six nations meeting in Luanda, Angola, jointly condemned "the U.S. intention to consolidate its relations with South Africa" and called for the immediate revival of the U.N. plan for Namibia "without delay, evasions, qualifications or modifications...
...national elections later this month. The Administration has asked Congress to repeal the 1976 Clark amendment, which bars covert U.S. aid to rebel guerrillas in Angola. For its part, South Africa may have used the tough new U.S. stance against terrorism to accelerate a war against leftist guerrillas in Namibia, which South Africa has administered since...
...also reacted last week to Cuban and Soviet bloc involvement in Africa. The White House asked Congress to lift the ban on aid to Angolan rebels fighting the Soviet-backed government there, a move that antagonized black African nations, because Angola supports guerrillas in neighboring Namibia righting to break free of white-ruled South Africa. The Administration also suspended food assistance to Marxist Mozambique in retaliation for the expulsion of four American diplomats. The State Department said the eviction was instigated by Cuban intelligence agents...