EPISCOP CHUR&HMEN " for SOUTH ,< 339 Lafayette S'm!et, New York, N.Y. (212)477-0066 -'w A "...,.AIta-
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: NAMIBIA Pretoria's Cruel Ploy The ,South Af~ican. regi.ine, ever compoUnding its tmlawful rule in .Namibia , is using .captive Namipi.ciD men and woinen as bsu'gaining chips 'in its ongoing att~ to defeat indeperrlence for the' 'Terriitory of .Namibia.
. "The 'S~th Af~ican, ~ter o£ Justj,~e, ~n_the orders ·..oLS.tate President l1arais Viljoen,' on .27 APril' abruptly terminated an urgent application which had been brought before the Supreme Court in Windhoek. He enployed'a never-before-used section of the South African Defence Act of 1957 which allows the State President to 'kill a court action if he deems ,it is in the nq.tional interest that, the proceedings shall not be continued'.. . . . - . ~e 'application had been brought against .the Minister of Defence, General Magnus Malan, Pretoria's adffii.nistrator-general in Ncu;ni.bia and· South ·African arII\Y officers in Namibia. The.' action charged that at least lOO men, women and children have been held illegally, ineOlIBIlUI'l,i.~ado and without trial since they were seized during the 4 May 191'8 South Afri- can Defence' Force assault qn a Namibian refugee settlement at Cassinga, 150 miles nar:th,. of th~ Namibia/Angola border in the sovereign state of Angola. Over 600 men,.women aM childrertwere slaughtered in that attack. The captives are held at the,Mariental army camp.
Im:mg the applicants were wtheran .Bishop Kleopas Dumeni, Ranan Catholic Bishop Bonafatius Haushiku and Anglican Bishop'James Hamlpanda Kauluma who is also president of the Cotmcil of Churches ;in Namibia. '!hey joined members of families and friends of the 37 captives naned in tJ:le ease. .The Windhoek legal firm of lDrentz & Bone were the lc;lWyers, instructed by ;the Lawyers' Comnittee for Civil Rights Under Law of Washington, D. C. Attorney Gay. J. .'Mql):)ugall; director of the Lawyers 'Ccmnittee's Southern Africa Project,ha;i been refused "ci' visa to go to Namibia by the illegal South African authorities. ' :' ~ mere\.1as an'imnediate outcry from the Namibian and South African bar cotmcils ~' Pro~est aro\.md the world. Administrator-General Willie van Niekerk hurriedly stated that 54 tm named Mariental captives would be released 'as soon as we are satisfied that proper> ac:xx>m IOOdation is available to them'. Van Niekerk added that he hoped the Namibian liberation n'ovement would response to his generosity by stopping its war of, independence. The United States.State, Department weighed. in by welcoming the statement of the Pretorian proconsul. Washington and Pretoria are wo~king together to effect their kind of settlement of the Namibian' issue, one that wil1.deny the }~amib:i,an peoples' widely a~epted desire that 5WAPO will
Resolyed.by the House''of'Representatives (the Senate COllCUrI'ing), That 1t 1S the sense ortheCongress that - ~ 1) the United States,' should reaffirm and con~inue its policy of rot ~gni.zing South Africa's, illegal occupation of Namibia; . 2) the Republic of South Africa should canply with the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, am the 'Geneva Conventions of 1949, the sale bases upon which South Africa, as an illegal occupying force in Nanibia, may detain in:lividuals ; 3) the Republic of South Africa soould rove quickly to release all detainees at the Marienta:l canp, or revoke the orner that terminated the court proceedings instituted on March 5, 1984, am permit a',full hearing to proceed on the lawfulness of 'the con tinuing detention of the Cassinga detainees; am 4) the President and his representatives should convey to the Republic of South Africa the concerns of the Congress expressed in this resolution at every opportunity, including at any negotiations between the United States am the Republic of South Africa on the indepen:ience of Namibia, on regional issues, and on agreements relating to trade, can ~ce, science, am technology. Sec. 2. '!he President is requested to transmit a copy of this resolution to the Ambassa dor, fran the Republic of South Africa to the United States and to the Pr-ime tfi.nist~ of 1;:he Republk of South Africa. • Ie Ie Ie Ie *,