Denmark and National Liberation in Southern Africa
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Denmark and National Liberation in Southern Africa Denmark and National Liberation in Southern Africa A Flexible Response Christopher Munthe Morgenstierne Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala 2003 Indexing terms Foreign relations National liberation movements Apartheid Denmark Angola Mozambique Namibia South Africa Zimbabwe Language checking: Elaine Almén Cover: Adriaan Honcoop © The author and Nordiska Afrikainstitutet 2003 ISBN 91-7106-517-2 Printed in Sweden by Elanders Gotab, Stockholm, 2003 Contents Foreword . 9 Preface . 11 1. Introduction . 13 Historical setting . 14 The scope of the study. 15 2. Out of Anonymity: The Apartheid Appropriation . 18 1960: Consumer boycott and Oliver Tambo’s first visit . 19 1962: The Nordic countries in the United Nations: ‘No more Abbyssinia’. 21 1963: Answers to a UN appeal . 23 1964: Denmark’s first financial support. 27 1965: Institutionalising Danish support: The ‘Apartheid Appropriation’. 29 Out of anonymity . 30 Domestic and international Attention . 31 Allocation and distribution: NGOs and the ‘Apartheid Committee’ . 33 Beneficiaries: Threee broad categories . 36 Volume 1965–1971 . 38 Establishing a track for the future . 39 3. ‘To’ or ‘Through’? Denmark Supporting National Liberation Movements. 41 1971: The first grant to a national liberation movement . 41 Denmark and its Nordic counterparts . 45 Danish NGO initiatives: ‘Afrika-71’ . 49 The Social Democrats and the national liberation movements. 55 Liberation movements with human faces: ‘But, we knew them’. 57 ‘Millions to African freedom struggle’ . 60 Reactions to Andersen’s expansion . 63 Parliamentary debates: ‘To’ or ‘through’? . 67 Dolisie: NGOs favoured over UNESCO . 70 The political nature of Andersen’s expansion: Limits for change . 75 4. 1974: Political Struggle and Stalemate . 77 Continued growth of the Apartheid Appropriation . 77 New government . 79 A different conclusion . 81 NGOs concerned, but not alarmed . 83 Initiatives for public action . 84 Pressure from the right . 87 Guldberg suspicious of the Apartheid Appropriation . 89 Fighting the minister. 91 Explanations and withdrawal . 92 Political positions . 94 Stalemate . 96 5. Sanctions: Denmark’s Shift from Hesitant to Decisive . 98 South Africa back on the agenda . 98 Nordic political response . 99 Coordinating with the EC. 101 Danish policy on the Nordic Action Programme . 102 No restrictions on the coal trade. 103 Public action. 104 Coalition government 1978–79: Cease-fire on sanctions and support. 106 Increasing attention on increasing trade . 108 A new government—another new majority . 109 Political steps towards Danish sanctions. 111 The Nordic path . 115 Completing Danish sanctions . 116 A peculiar parliamentary situation . 118 6. Trends and Conclusions . 120 Main periods . 120 Actors. 121 Double nature and flexibility . 123 References . 126 Appendix. 131 Name Index . 142 Acronyms AAM Anti-Apartheid Movement of Britain ANC African National Congress DANIDA Danish International Development Assistance DCA DanchurchAid. English for FKN DGS Danske Gymnasieelevers sammenslutning (Danish High School Students’ Association) DKK Danish ‘kroner’ DSU Danmarks Socialdemokratiske Ungdom (the Danish Social Democratic Youth Organisation) DSF Danske Studerendes Fællesråd (the Danish Student’s Council) DUF Dansk Ungdoms Fællesråd (the Danish Youth Council) EAC East Asian Company EC/EEC European Comunity / European Economic Community EFTA European Free Trade Association FFI Frie Faglige Internationale (Danish for ICFTU) FKN Folkekirkens Nødhjælp FNLA Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola FRELIMO Frente de Libertação de Moçambique Ibis New name for WUS-Denmark ICFTU International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (Social Demo- cratic international labour organization, based in Brussels) IDAF Internationa Defence and Aid Fund IF Internationalt Forum (Independent youth wing of ‘FN-forbun- det’—Danish UN Association) IUEF International University Exchange Fund KR Kirkernes Raceprogram (Danish Section of PCR) LSA Landskommiteen Sydafrika Aktion (The National Committee for South Africa Action) LO Landsorganisationen (Danish TUC) MS Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke MPLA Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola NATO North American Treaty Organization NOK Norwegian ‘kroner’ NORAD Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation OEEC Organization of European Economic Cooperation OECD Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development PAIGC Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde PCR Programme to Combat Rascism (The Danish section was KR) SACC South African Council of Churches SACTU South African Congress of Trade Unions SAK Sydafrika Kommite. (Local South Africa committees. Most pro- minent were SAK-Århus and SAK-Copenhagen) SEK Swedish ‘kroner’ SIDA Swedish International Development Authority (now Sida— Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) SWAPO South West Africa People’s Organization TA Technical Assistance (Denmark’s official development assist- ance. Did not include the independent ‘Apartheid Appropria- tion’) TS Technical assistance Secretariate—later DANIDA. Section in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for administrating the TA. In periods under a different Minister than the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Also responsible for administrating the ‘Apartheid Appropriation’ TUC Trades Union Congress UFF Ulandshjælp fra Folk til Folk (Development Aid from People to People—DAPP) UNITA União Nacional para a Indepêndencia Total de Angola USD US Dollars WAYWorld Assembly of Youth WFTU World Federation of Trade Unions (Communist oriented inter- national labour organization, based in Prague) WCC World Council of Churches WUS World University Service ZANU Zimbabwe African National Union ZAPU Zimbabwe African People’s Union Danish political parties Centrum-Demokraterne (CD) Centre Democrats Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti (DKP) Communist Party Fremskridtspartiet (FP) Progress Party Konservative Folkeparti (K) Conservative Party Kristeligt Folkeparti (KrF) Christian Democrats Radikale Venstre (RV) Social-Liberal Party Socialdemokratiet (SD) Social Democratic Party Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF) Socialist Peoples Party Venstre (V) Liberal Party Venstresocialisterne (VS) Left Socialist Party Foreword The present study on Denmark is the fourth and last within a wider research project on National Liberation in Southern Africa: The Role of the Nordic Countries, hosted at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden. Serving until mid-2001 as the project co-ordinator, it gives me great pleasure that the study by Christopher Munthe Morgenstierne brings this Nordic undertaking to its completion.1 Studies on Denmark, Finland2, Norway3 and Sweden4 are now available. In addition, a companion volume of interviews—mainly with repre- sentatives from the Southern African liberation movements—has been pub- lished.5 Individually and as a group, from the early 1960s the Nordic countries played a prominent role in support of the national liberation struggles waged against colonialism and minority rule in Southern Africa. While the victorious movements of MPLA in Angola (1975), FRELIMO in Mozambique (1975), ZANU and ZAPU in Zimbabwe (1980), SWAPO in Namibia (1990) and ANC in South Africa (1994) were shunned by the West during the Cold War period as ‘Communist’ or ‘terrorist’, their legitimate demands for national self-deter- mination and democracy found an echo in the distant North. Often described as ‘Soviet-backed’, the less dramatic label of ‘Nordic-backed’ nationalist move- ments is empirically more accurate, particularly with regard to the non-military aspects of the struggles. This study on Denmark sheds further light on the Nor- dic involvement in the ‘Thirty Years’ War’ in Southern Africa which started in Angola in February 1961 and ended with the democratic elections in South Africa in April 1994. Initially inspired by a research proposal by the Harare-based Southern Africa Regional Institute for Policy Studies (SARIPS) on the the history of national liberation in Southern Africa, in mid-1994—shortly after the demise of apartheid in South Africa—the Nordic Africa Institute took the initiative to 1. Due to its marginal interaction with Southern Africa, no particular study on Iceland was under- taken. As acknowledged in the texts, Iceland, however, formed an integral part of the Nordic countries’ active stand against colonialism and minority rule. 2. Soiri, Iina and Pekka Peltola, 1999, Finland and National Liberation in Southern Africa, Nord- iska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. 3. Eriksen, Tore Linné (ed.), 2000, Norway and National Liberation in Southern Africa, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. 4. Sellström, Tor, 1999, Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa. Volume I: Formation of a Popular Opinion 1950-1970, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, and Sellström, Tor, 2002, Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa. Volume II: Solidarity and Assistance 1970- 1994, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. 5. Sellström, Tor (ed.), 1999, Liberation in Southern Africa. Regional and Swedish Voices, Nor- diska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. 10 Christopher Munthe Morgenstierne document the particular involvement of the Nordic countries. More compre- hensive accounts of this important chapter in contemporary history will be written from within the region itself. As researchers and participants in the countries concerned increasingly embark on this path, it is hoped that the present study on Denmark, and the other studies in the series published by the Nordic Africa Institute,