TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1812> <link 89TT3117> <link 89TT1023> <title> Namibia--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Southern Africa Namibia </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> Bushmen are generally assumed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the region now known as Namibia. Later inhabitants include the Nama and the Damara or Berg Dama. The Bantu-speaking Ovambo and Herero migrated from the north. The inhospitable Namib Desert constituted a formidable barrier to European exploration until the late 18th century, when successions of travelers, traders, hunters, and missionaries (mostly British and Cape Dutch) explored the area. In 1878, the United Kingdom annexed Walvis Bay on behalf of Cape Colony, and the area was incorporated into the Cape of Good Hope in 1884. In 1883, a German trader claimed the rest of the coastal region from the Orange River to 26 south latitude after negotiations with a local chief. Diplomatic negotiations between the United Kingdom and Germany resulted in Germany's annexation of the coastal region except for Walvis Bay. The following year, the United Kingdom recognized the hinterland up to 20 east longitude as a German sphere of influence. German administration ended during World War I when the territory was occupied by South African forces. Mandate Period On December 17, 1920, South Africa undertook the administration of South-West Africa under the terms of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations and a mandate agreement confirmed by the League Council. The mandate agreement gave South Africa full power of administration and legislation over the territory as an intergral part of South Africa. It required that South Africa promote to the utmost the material and moral well being and social progress of the people. When the League of Nations was dissolved in 1946, its supervisory authority for the territory was inherited by the newly formed United Nations. South Africa refused UN requests to place the territory under a trusteeship agreement. During the 1960s, as the European powers granted independence to their colonies and trust territories in Africa, pressure mounted on South Africa to do so in Namibia (then South-West Africa). In 1966, the UN General Assembly revoked South Africa's mandate. In 1966, the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) began guerrilla attacks on Namibia, infiltrating the territory from bases in Zambia. After Angola became independent in 1975, SWAPO established bases in Angola. Hostilities intensified gradually over the years, especially in Ovamboland. In a 1971 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice upheld UN authority over Namibia, determining that the South African presence in Namibia was illegal and that South Africa therefore was obligated to withdraw its administration from Namibia immediately. The Court also advised UN member states to refrain from any actions implying legal recognition of or lending support or assistance to the South African presence. In the face of increasing international pressure, South Africa convened the Turnhalle Conference in September 1975 to bring together leaders of Namibia's various population groups--whites, coloreds, and black tribal groups--to discuss Namibia's future. Delegations were seated from each of the 12 ethnic groups, representing a wide range of views. However, certain parties--notably SWAPO--were not invited. The conference, which met intermittently until October 1977, produced a plan for achieving independence through an internal settlement. They recommended a constitution based on a separate white electorate and a group of ethnic homelands represented in a federal government on an ethnic or racial basis. South Africa's apparent intention to proceed with a unilateral, internal settlement in Namibia aroused international concern. In the United Nations, demands grew for action against South Africa. In 1977, the then-five Western members of the UN Security Council--Canada, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States (now known as the Contact Group*)--launched a joint diplomatic effort to bring a peaceful, internationally acceptable transition to independence for Namibia. Their efforts led to the presentation in April 1979 of the proposal--approved in Security Council Resolution 435--for settling the Namibian problem. The proposal, which has been accepted by the United Nations and is known as the UN Plan, was worked out after lengthy consultations with South Africa, the front line states (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and--since 1980--Zimbabwe), SWAPO, UN officials, and the Contact Group. It calls, inter alia, for the holding of direct elections in Namibia under UN supervision and control, the cessation of hostile acts by all parties, and restrictions on the activities of South African and Namibian Armed Forces. South Africa agreed to cooperate in achieving implementation of Resolution 435, but nonetheless, in defiance of the UN proposal, held unilateral elections in Namibia in December 1978, boycotted by all but right-of-center political parties. The UN Security Council regarded the elections as null and void. South Africa has since taken other steps to bring Namibia closer to self-government, while continuing to negotiate for an internationally acceptable agreement involving implementation of the UN Plan. The United States, its Western allies, and the United Nations remain committed to a settlement within the framework of Resolution 435 and do not recognize the existing political institutions in Namibia. Negotiations since 1978 have focused on issues connected with the implementations of the UN Plan, for example, an agreement in 1981 on assurances regarding UN impartiality in supervising elections in Namibia. Since 1983, the principal issue has been the South African position that it will not agree to implement the UN independence plan for Namibia until it has a satisfactory commitment on the withdrawal of Cuban troops from neighboring Angola. In November 1984, the Angolan Government made a formal proposal involving the implementation of UN Resolution 435 on Namibian independence and, within the context, Cuban troop withdrawal. South Africa has responded with proposals that also include Cuban troop withdrawal and implementation of Resolution 435. Since the initial proposals were put forward, both sides have actively engaged in discussing ways to reach agreement. The United States has played a mediating role in order to facilitate an agreement resulting in the implementation of Resolution 435. Meanwhile Namibia continues to experience low-level guerrilla conflict with insurgents of SWAPO's military branch, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), fighting the South African Defence Forces (SADF) and the South-West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF). SWAPO draws its strength principally from within the Ovambo tribe. The bulk of the insurgency and counterinsurgency effort occurs in Ovamboland and Kavango, but sporadic violence erupts throughout the country. Political Conditions Namibian society is highly politicized, with about 40 political groups, ranging from modern political parties to traditional groups based on tribal authority. Some represent single tribes or ethnic groups; others encompass several. Most participate in political alliances, some of which are multiracial, with frequently shifting membership. Since 1978, the South African Government has sought to encourage political groups willing to work with it. The first such grouping was the Democrat Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) a multiethnic coalition that presently comprises 11 parties and groups. In 1982, the DTA underwent internal strain--including withdrawal of one of its principal constituent parties, the National Democratic Action Party--finding itself increasingly at public odds with the South African Government, in January 1983, DTA members of the Council of Ministers and National Assembly resigned. This was followed by the dissolution of the assembly and the Council of Ministers and the resumption of direct rule by the Administrator General over the first-tier government. With the encouragement of the South African Government, another somewhat broader coalition known as the Multi-Party Conference (MPC) was formed in November 1983. At the time it consisted of seven parties, including the right wing National Party, which has opposed the DTA. The MPC developed the proposals for the interim administration announced by the South African Government in April 1985. The Council of Ministers, the Legislative Assembly, and the Constitutional Council were to consist of MPC members appointed by the South African Government. Adherence to the MPC or refusal to join marks a dividing line in Namibian politics. One of the larger parties, SWANU, a nonviolent nationalist liberation movement formed in 1959, was split by this issue. One faction joined the MPC; another, which probably commands the loyalty of a majority of the party's members, refused to join the MPC. That faction of SWANU has worked with a number of other parties outside the MPC, and it has called for a peoples consultative conference consisting of parties, including SWAPO, that oppose the South African Government. SWAPO remains a legal political party and is still cautiously active in Namibia, although it is forbidden to hold meetings of more than 20 people. Its leadership has been subject to frequent detention. SWAPO draws its strength principally, but not exclusively, from within the Ovambo tribe. The Organization of African Unity and the UN General Assembly recognize SWAPO as the sole legitimate representative of the Namibian people, an ascription not accepted by the other internal parties and not yet tested in elections. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, June 1985. </body> </article> </text>