Word: namibia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...more than a decade, the United Nations has been trying to end South Africa's control over Namibia (South West Africa). For just as long, South Africa has tried to maintain its jurisdiction over the Venezuela-size territory that it has ruled since 1920 under a League of Nations mandate, which the U.N. lifted in 1966. In April, under prodding by the "Big Five" Western powers (the U.S., Britain, France, Canada and West Germany), the South Africans agreed to surrender sovereignty to a new Namibian government elected through U.N. -supervised voting...
Last month, however, retiring South African Prime Minister John Vorster abruptly reneged on the deal. In a move plainly calculated to guarantee a pro-South African regime in Namibia, Vorster announced that Pretoria would forge ahead with an "internal settlement." Last week, top foreign-policy makers of the Big Five, headed by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, called on Vorster's hard-lining successor, Pieter W. Botha, with a harsh message: either go along with the West's independence plan or face U.N.-imposed* economic sanctions...
...criticisms of South Africa's apartheid policy if Botha accepted the U.N. plan. Further underscoring the West's flexibility, the Big Five spokesmen agreed to a number of South African demands: a renegotiation of the size of the U.N. peace-keeping force that is to move into Namibia, and a continued South African monopoly on law enforcement. Botha declared that he "highly valued" Carter's message, but he also refused to back away from his plan for elections...
...using "the carrot, rather than the stick" in relations with South Africa. Going on to proclaim that such friendly relations are the best hope for a peaceful solution in southern Africa -- in Rhodesia pushing Smith's government to the negotiating table with leaders of the Popular Front guerrillas, in Namibia procuring South Africa's acquiescence to U.N.-supervised elections -- the Post concluded that the choice between peace and violence is Pretoria...
...Soweto in 1975, with the murder of Steve Biko last year. Supported by South Africa, Rhodesia chose violence with its raids last week. When the two countries are not choosing violence, they are backing and filling, stalling for time, as in the now-on, now-off elections in Namibia, as in the mockery of a transitional government in Rhodesia...