Word: swapo
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...widely hailed as a victory for patient U.S. diplomacy. After years of hostility, both South Africa and the militant South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) agreed to let the United Nations oversee the transition to independence of Namibia (South West Africa). But as events unfolded in the Venezuela-sized, mineral-rich territory last week, it became clear that much more patience and diplomacy will be needed, before South Africa relinquishes control over the land It has ruled since 1919 under an international mandate, that the U.N. revoked in 1966. As a U.S. official warned last week: "Things could...
...effort is most likely to founder over the future of Walvis Bay, Namibia's principal port (see box). Pretoria wants to trade the harbor for a cooperative attitude from the new Namibian regime after it takes power. SWAPO insists that Walvis Bay, through which 90% of the territory's international trade passes, must become part of Namibia...
...civilians. Ahtisaari, a former Finnish Ambassador to Tanzania, will meet with stonewalling cynicism from whites, who fully expect him to favor the guerrillas in any disagreement. One such skeptic is Brian O'Linn, Secretary-General of the Namibia National Front, a newly formed multiracial attempt to steer between SWAPO and its major opponent, the South African-backed Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. Says O'Linn, "the deep suspicion South Africans have about the U.N. can only be alleviated. I doubt if it will ever be resolved...
...constitution for independent Namibia. Pretoria has warned that it may reject any recommendation Ahtisaari comes up with. Meanwhile both sides have adopted a "you first" attitude that will make a cease-fire difficult to achieve. As guerrillas under his command blew up a vital water line in northern Namibia, SWAPO Leader Sam Nujoma declared that "prospects for free, fair and democratic elections are increasingly doubtful, if not untenable." Until South Africa confines its 10,000 or so Namibian troops to then-bases, said Nujoma, he will not order his guerrillas to lay down their arms. The South Africans retorted that...
...Western plan had been accepted by South Africa in April. Last week South African Foreign Minister R.F. ("Pik") Botha cautiously called SWAPO's acceptance a development that "could herald a new era in southern Africa." Some South African officials, however, remain skeptical about whether SWAPO guerrillas are genuinely prepared to enter into peaceable rivalry with Namibia's only other major political force, the moderate, white-aligned Democratic Turnhalle Alliance...