EPISCOP 'CHU~HMEN for SOUTH :AFRlCA 339 lafayette Street, NeW York, N.Y. 10012 FRONE: (212)477-0066 -For A FIN SIIttJJn Aldtll-' ,

" 11 June 1984

PRETORIA S~RIKES AGAIN, IN· . r Two weeks after they had been released,· some of' men and women who had been ~eld in ,incommunicado c~ptivity at the Mariental camp of the South 'African' Defence Force were detained by the South,African Police. They, members of swApO -. including officials, and lawyers· active in their behalf were detained on Sa~~pay, 9. June, while ~njoying a b~be~ue a few miles from Namibia's chief city, . Some. 80 armed and camoufl~ged men of the South African Special Police Task Force descended on a Roman Catholic seminary, seized 37 people and carried them off·.to various jails and ·prisons•. This typical .~etorian crackdown Qccurs while Pr·ime Minister Pieter W. Botha is'in the la$t ·daY13 of h.is first political 'welcome into the. family' tour of Weste~n Europe. He.has met with the. British, German and Austrian premiers, vi~ited other countries, saw the Pope this morning'and'confers with US As~istant Secretary of State.··for African Affairs Chester Crocker, in Rome tomorrow. Theround~p in Namibia is another indication· of Pre­ torian cocksuredness and. fits a long pattern of talking and striking' at the same time., It is most. un~~kely' the Western powers will do more than fume. A'spokesman'f9r the US State Department confesses the'arrests are 'embarrassing', and offic~al/the, Department deplores such actions~' .. . ,. ,ly , .. .'" 'I . A fortnight ago Pretoria freed ~4 Mariental captives - after, the State ~esiden't had killed a court· application brought by families and the. Anglican, Lutheran and'Roman Catholic bishops in Namibia for the freeing of 36 of the admitted·146 Namibians. imprisoned at the·army camp. (Only .South African officials know how many re'ally are held there)., 'The court reserved judgmento~ the applicants' plea against the State President's action. Pretor~a is furious .by ,the insistence of the app~icants,.and, by the 'very broaching of, the··issue of the Mariental captives. .: . .

. . ." I Pretoria', too, is frustrated' and angry by the failure of a mid-May con­ ference held in Lusaka, Zambia; when its chosen followers inside Namibia, 't~e Mu~ti-Party Conference pebple~ were shown up to be the limp entity every Namibian knows them to be. These latest detentions are the latest - by 'no means the~last ~'of the .fruits of constructive engagement. Any sensible person would long ago have conc~uded that Pretoria has no intention of letting go in Namibia.

Secretary of State George Shultz Your Senators: ~shington,DC 20510 Department of State ' Washington, DC 20520 Your Congress- Washington,DC 20515 . Person' COUNCIL ,OF CHURCHES IN NAMIBIA

The Executive Committee of the Council of Churches in Namibia meeting in Windhoek on the' 10th of June 1984 condemns in the strongest possible terms the unjustifiable action of arresting 37 people dn private church property oh the 9th of June 1984. The people detained'were at the time involved in a braaivleis (barbecue) celebrating the release of prisoners from the concentration camp at Marien­ tal after six y~ars of detention. We are shocked that such un~~ristian action,can be taken on behalf of a so-called 'Christian' government, on the eve of the, Day of Pentecost. " .:' '. \' ",' _ , '" :. t .: •,•• ~. -' -i -;.~.~ ~,' ...... ,'.-") . Such act:Lons s'erve only" 'to fJurther poison the'attitudes and relationships of peopJ..e in .our- country ~ " ' , " ~.,-, ." We,' ,therefor..e', demand,. the iJtlmediate' relea'se of" all- det~'ined' and further':' ' more 'cal,l- ,for ·the full Cleara.rl'ce of "theIr names·.' ,:, :' -. " ' ~

, ' ,• .... • ,'." _'0' " f • 0 .' .;,. •• ....-' {.:! :. ~ ; '".• . :_ .. ). _ f; 'T'., J . if :* ;:,-* -,* * *: r * it . * *~ 'u .;:"' ..;. THE DETAINED

Mr' Nathaniel 1 Ma-xu:iliLi ,SWAPO acting. :.. Mr Nic0>' Bessinger; 'SWAPO for'~~grl " ; plflesident :inside ,Namibia ,.' ,!. C' ... • ~ affairs', secretary in 'Namibia MrDanie.l '.I'jon~aFero,.. SWAPO,-deputy." ':' Mr 'F~ans Kambangul~, 'SWAPO se9retary -:chairmah inS2de:"iNamibia .- u W.,' , 6f ~transport 'inside- Namibia. . Rev Ervin 'Tjirimuje,i African .Methodist·jRev 'Bartholomeus "Karuaera', African; Episcopa,l pastor.,:, "',' , .. <',,- .~. ':.", ',,': ~ 'Methodist Ep1scopaI pastor' .' Hartmu;t ~Ru:ppel, Esq -. lawyer' ~. "Mton LubowsJd:, ESq-':'" 'lawyer ' Mr:·Salomon Khamatama." . " ;.;':' ". ,: Mr ,Immanuel Ngatjizeko ',. Mr Abraham,Witboo! ' ,',', :.',- ..., "Ms'~PetI'ina-'Witbooi ' "

Ms Gertrude··Kandaga,,", ;' ,:, " 'Ms MapgaI'et' G.' Joagmang 1 Ms Elina Ndapuka Ms Rosaline Namises . Ms Josafina;rShangala' 'MI' !bos'hua··Ho~beB ',. Mr Ithete Gabriel,"', . :' ,Mr' Naf,tali -UiI'ab' '. Mr -Gregorius Makone ~ MIL Rahimls'e Kahimise ,'I:. •• .. f" Mr Abraham . Shat:~nwene r. ' " MrMart'fnn KapewashSl' Mr Erasmus. Endjala, .. MI' gerry 'Ekandjo· . ' ,', " Mr AbnetltXoagti.b' l'~':? Mr "Paul Ellioi' Hisk-~a'l~~ ~ Mr Fh:t.1Jrip· Tj:erije: ., MI' FeteI' Nanjemba' -, 'r. , Ms Anna Christiaan- '0.. Mr Abraham Shikwambi Mr JaSon Angula MI' Albin Ilovu Mr Andreas Themba "J .. ~, ~ • ~. i ~; Mr J efta' Maharero

Mrl"Oxtirub, ,Damara. Council' (' I . , , 'j ~ ·r

Thes~ Namibians detained by the security police on 9 June 1984 are being held. ;>:bj various: ;pr~s'ons; 'and ja·ils. in' Namibia. ,I :, ;; .', l • "I:' . , ", ' . r) .- '.