Namibia 923 Chapter III Namibia Throughout 1986, the United Nations maintained dilatory manœuvres and fraudulent schemes of its efforts to achieve independence for Namibia, South Africa in Namibia, through the adoption an illegally occupied Territory and the largest re- of comprehensive mandatory sanctions against it. maining under colonial rule. Activities undertaken Later, at its regular 1986 session, the Assembly by the United Nations Council for Namibia, the adopted a series of resolutions on Namibia. By legal Administering Authority for Namibia until resolution 41/39 A, it decided that the Council for independence, were therefore aimed at generating Namibia should proceed to establish its ad- the maximum support of the international com- ministration in Namibia in 1987; reaffirmed that munity for the Namibian people and at ending independence could be achieved only with the full South Africa’s occupation. participation of the South West Africa People’s Accordingly, the Council held consultations with Organization ( SWAPO); and condemned South Member States to consider possible measures to Africa for imposing an interim government and be undertaken in compliance with United Nations for its military buildup. It called on South Africa resolutions on Namibia, the representation of Na- to desist from linking the independence of Na- mibian interests in international forums, the pro- mibia to the presence of Cuban troops in Angola, vision of moral, material and political support to emphasizing that such linkage was incompatible the people and the dissemination of information with Security Council resolution 435(1978) and, on the current situation in the Territory. in addition to delaying Namibia’s decolonization, In March, South Africa proposed that 1 August constituted interference in Angola’s internal af- 1986 be set for the implementation of Security fairs. It also reaffirmed that Namibia’s accession Council resolution 435(1978), embodying the to independence must be with its territorial in- United Nations plan for Namibian independence, tegrity intact and again urged the Security Coun- provided that agreement was reached before that cil to impose mandatory sanctions. date on the withdrawal of Cuban troops from By resolution 41/39 B, the Assembly em- Angola. Angola pointed out that a number of con- phasized that the only parties to the conflict in Na- ditions, agreed to in 1984, had not been fully met mibia were the Namibian people, represented by and that an abstract indication of a date to mark SWAPO, and South Africa; it rejected all the resolution’s implementation was not sufficient, manœuvres aimed at diverting attention from the without an indication of the sequence of com- central issue of decolonization by introducing an plementary steps. The Secretary-General assured East-West confrontation. The work programmme South Africa in June that he was ready to begin of the Council for Namibia was approved with the implementing the United Nations plan on 1 adoption of resolution 41/39 C. In resolution August and reiterated his rejection of linking in- 41/39 D, the Assembly requested that Council to dependence for Namibia with the presence of increase the dissemination of information relating Cuban troops in Angola. He recalled that the to Namibia. Security Council had also rejected such linkage. Further, the Assembly, by resolution 41/39 E, In September, the General Assembly held its requested the Secretary-General and the President fourteenth special session-its third dealing with of the Council for Namibia to intensify appeals Namibia-which culminated in the adoption of for more generous contributions to the United Na- resolution S-14/1, by which it reaffirmed the right tions Fund for Namibia and decided to allocate of the Namibian people to self-determination, temporarily- to the Fund $1.5 million from the freedom and national independence; demanded regular United Nations budget for 1987. that South Africa immediately withdraw its illegal Earlier, in May, the Economic and Social Coun- administration, occupation army and police force cil also condemned South Africa’s installation of from Namibia; condemned South Africa for the the interim government and denounced the installation of an interim government in Wind- forceful military conscription of Namibian men hoek; and called on it to desist from linking the and women to consolidate oppression in Namibia independence of Namibia to extraneous issues, (resolution 1986/23). such as the presence of Cuban troops in Angola. Namibians outside their country continued to The Assembly urged the Security Council to ex- receive assistance from various United Nations ercise its authority and to act decisively against programmes, financed primarily through volun- 924 Trusteeship and decolonization tary contributions administered by the Fund for the meetings of the Preparatory Commission for Namibia. In 1986, the Fund spent $7.2 million; the International Sea-Bed Authority and for the voluntary contributions by States reached $5.7 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the million. Funding was also provided from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Devel- regular United Nations budget, the United Na- opment, the United Nations Industrial Develop- tions Development Programme ( UNDP) and spe- ment Organization ( UNIDO), the Executive Com- cialized agencies. Three main programmes were mittee of the Programme of the United Nations operated by the Fund-the Nationhood Pro- High Commissioner for Refugees, the Interna- gramme for Namibia and the United Nations In- tional Labour Organisation (ILO), the Food and stitute for Namibia, which acted in relation to the Agriculture Organization of the United Nations future attainment of independence; and educa- (FAO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific tional, social and relief assistance, dealing with the and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO), the Inter- immediate needs of Namibians in their struggle national Telecommunication Union and the Inter- for independence. national Atomic Energy Agency-all of which had granted full membership to Namibia, represented by the Council. The Council participated in a series of meetings Namibia question of OAU, between 25 February and 30 July 1986, and in the meetings and conferences of the Move- Activities of the UN Council for Namibia. ment of Non-Aligned Countries, between During 1986, the United Nations Council for Na- September 1985 and April 1986, contributing to mibia continued to act as the legal Administering the elaboration of their decisions on Namibia. Authority for Namibia until independence, the To mobilize international support for Namibia’s function assigned by the General Assembly in independence, the Council organized a Seminar 1967.(1) Its report to the Assembly on the situa- on World Action for the Immediate Independence tion in Namibia and on its activities covered the of Namibia (Valletta, Malta, 19-23 May). The period from 1 September 1985 to 31 August Seminar, agreeing that obstacles to independence 1986.(2) Later 1986 activities were covered in its had been laid by South Africa’s intransigence and 1987 report.(3) by certain Western Powers that gave support to The Council took part in the meetings of the South Africa, condemned the policy of construc- Security Council from 5 to 13 February to con- tive engagement and linkage, condemned the con- sider the situation in southern Africa (see p. 158). tinuing plunder of Namibia’s resources by South It also participated in the work of other United African and Western economic interests, and ex- Nations bodies whenever they dealt with Namibia pressed concern at the massive militarization of or related questions. In particular, it took part in Namibia. meetings of the Special Committee on the Situa- On 23 May, the Seminar adopted a Final Com- tion with regard to the Implementation of the muniqué, containing a detailed programme of ac- Declaration on the Granting of Independence to tion for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Colonial Countries and Peoples (Committee on co- government officials, trade unionists, students and lonial countries) and the Special Committee journalists and for the Council. The Seminar against Apartheid and invited them to its own called for, among other things, the immediate im- meetings and events. In addition, it co-operated position of comprehensive mandatory sanctions with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and against South Africa in accordance with Chapter the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. It also VII of the United Nations Charter and urged na- represented Namibia in a number of specialized tionally elected officials to advance the cause of agencies and other intergovernmental bodies and Namibia’s independence by pressing their Govern- conferences, in order to derive maximum benefit ments to expedite the unconditional implementa- 5 for the Namibian people from the assistance pro- tion of Security Council resolution 435(1978).( ) It grammes sponsored by those agencies, and to in- further called on those officials to initiate legisla- volve Namibia as actively as possible in the tion to promote the adherence of their countries decision-making process. to Decree No. 1 for the Protection of the Natural In accordance with a 1985 General Assembly Resources of Namibia, adopted by the Council for resolution,(4) the Council continued to consult Namibia in 1974(6) (see also p. 953), and to assist with SWAP0 in formulating and implementing its it in carrying out its mandate and its programme