Namibia, formerly under German rule and known as South West Africa, was the scene of the most protracted decolonization story in UN history. It began to unfold in the early years of the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations. Neighboring South African forces had seized the German colony at the outset of World War I-indeed, the Namibia campaign was the Allies' first victory. Following the war, the former British colony of South Africa inherited the territory under a mandate from the League. Nearly half a century later, in 1966, the General Assembly terminated the mandate, asserting that the indigenous people were not benefiting from South Africa's administration.
Again, while the Assembly acted, the Western powers who alone could press South Africa to begin relinquishing its mandate, did nothing. South Africa was an ally, a bulwark against communism on the African continent. The struggle for independence then took place on two tracks- as an armed struggle waged by the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) and as a diplomatic campaign. SWAPO brought off a diplomatic coup in 1973, when the General Assembly recognized it as the sole authentic representative of the Namibian people. At the beginning of 1976, the Assembly went further, endorsing SWAPO's fight as a legitimate means of achieving self-determination and granting SWAPO observer status at the world body. Finally, on January 30, 1976 the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 385, calling for free elections under UN control. It set an August 1976 deadline for the Council to review South Africa's compliance with the resolution.
At that point, a struggle that seemed to be moving toward resolution came to a grinding halt. Civil war had broken out in neighboring Angola, formerly a Portuguese colony. Both superpowers quickly took sides, and Cuban President Fidel Castro dispatched troops to fight on the side of Angolan President Augustinho Neto.
In the early 1980s, US President Ronald Reagan adopted a policy of "linkage." Progress on Namibian independence was henceforth linked to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola. Finally, on December 22, 1988, the war-weary parties signed agreements; Cuban troops would withdraw once Angolan independence was respected and security guaranteed.
With the war in Angola winding down, the way was cleared for final implementation of the Security Council's Resolution on Namibia. In April 1989, a UN Transitional Assistance Group was quickly put in place; people who had lived in exile for years returned home, and with blue-helmeted UN troops keeping watch on the proceedings, free elections were held. SWAPO won and formed a national government whose first president was SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma.
Another chapter in the decolonization process had come to an end-nearly a quarter of a century after it began.
By: Claude Robinson, (excerpt from Fostering Independence), from: A Global Affair: An Inside Look at the United Nations, published by Jones & Janello, copyright 1995, all rights reserved.
