"- VON FRANCOIS RUNS FROM WITBOOI TO WINDHOEK - FEATURE INSIDE TODAY Bringing Africa South . Vol.2 No,. t , ao YST RY."'- . ',DE PE S Military expert says local . authorities' explanation leaves many questions BY RAJAH MUNAMAVA THE bombing of a Namibian border village on Sunday morning, which the South West Africa Police have blamed Qri AngQlan government forces, has sparked a row about the origins of tbe plane involved in the incident. A police spokesperson in Wind­ vide them with an excuse to come to toBaganiis 800 kilometres and 1100 hoek, Chief Inspector Kierie du Rand, the rescue of a beleaguered Unita. kilometres respectively. said on Sunday night an Angolan A flight from Menogue to Bagani Soviet-made MiG fighter aircraft had MAJOR VICTORY would leave Angolan fighter aircrafts dropped a bomb near Bagani in hardly a few minutes "to be on sta­ Namibia. Angolan forces claimed a major tion". The military sourcesaid while ' • The plane, he said, was.believed to victory against. Unita on December this was possible, it 'was highly un­ have been on a bombing mission 23. Lu anda saiQ Fapla forces had likely. against Vnita targets near the Ango­ takea the strategic town 'Of Matringa, , 'The Angolan,cairf-ot.ce has Mi~h - . lan/Namibian border. which is only 220 kilometres from 21s, MiG-23s and SU-22s., The bomb, according to the police, the Unita stronghold, Jamba. According to the military expert, had been dropped about three to four But according to a Western mili­ the MiG-21 is a versatile war 'ma­ kilometres inside Namibia, about 100 tary expert in Windhoek, the expla­ . chine. Itcan be deployed as a fighter, metres away from the village in the nations given by the local authorities an interceptor, or as a .ground at­ Kavango. here pose more questions than they tacker. Angolan military sour.ces on give answ·ers. "Thus, from the point of view of Monday denied that one of their air­ The source, who declined to be aircrafts,. it is completelY feasible craft was involved in the bombing named, said "this (incident) leaves that the aircraft could have taken off incident, saying the report was a more unanswered questions". The from Cuito Cuanavale or Menogue. fabrication by the South African and round trip from Angola's airforce or that it could have'been a MiG-21 United States governments to pro- bases at Cuito Cuanavale and Menogue or an SU-22," the source explained. CRATER SIZE$TRANGE "But what is weird is the size of PRINCIPLE the cx:ater and the effective radius of . the bomb. The Russian white phos­ phorous bomb has an effective ra­ dius of 150 to 200 metres, and it BEFORE UNITY would have taken out' the village. There is no way you can drop that Kosie Pretorius lashes out at Jan de Wet bomb 100 metres away from a vil­ lage without taking the village out," THE DISAGREEMENT between himself and Mr Jannie de THE head of the United Nations High Commission f()r Refugees in Wetwas not 'personal' but rather a matter of princil'le. This CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Windhoek, Mr Sylvester Awuye. was said by the leader of the white National Party in Namibia, Mr Kosie Pretorius, in a press release yesterday. - - ' , Reacting to what he called a "one­ National (ACN) was who was the sided" press conference by Mt de legitimate leader of the front and Wet on Monday, Mr,Pretorius said which was the legitimate constitution BACK ON TRACK that the disagreement between the it represented; two top of Action Christian Mr Pretorius confirmed that to date all efforts to effect reconcili­ UNHCR will continue to provide assistance to.Namibia ation ' betw~en the two, including arbitration, had failed. THE funding crisis which threatened to prematurely end the Secretariat in New York and the "¥y party which puts unity assi,stance given 'to 'returned exiles. by the United Nations High UNHCR in Geneva on possible ways aPoJl:t'. ~nciple to avoid division Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has been solved. of solving the funding problem. will Hirst .JOse its principles and When Mr Stoltenberg took up his then its unity"', he said. This was disclosed by the UNHCR's end of this month the UNHCR would duties yesterday, further discussions Mr-Pretorius, adding that he could head of mission in Windhoek, Mr continue to provide assistance to had been held and agreement on not :'ignore' the allegations made Sylvester Awuye, in an interview returnees until the end of June, when continuing the programme was reached by Mr de Wet at a press conference yesterday. the food distribution programme was after new sources of funding had which had received wide coverage, Mr A wuye said the UN Secretary­ planned to end iil1yway. been identified. said that he had written a lengthy General, Mr Javier Perez de Cuellar, The imminent collapse of the letter to Mr de Wet on December and the new High Commissioner for UNHCR's operations due to lack of 18, to which he had not yet had a Refugees, Mr Thorvald Stoltenberg, funds was widely reported on radio, reply. had agreed that the UNHCR should television and the local press on . He regretted that the'matter be­ be allowed 1.0 complete its work in Tuesday. Mr Kosie Pretorius • principle tween them had now become one Namibia. The head of the local UNHCR office said that there had been ongo­ before unity of open public debate. This meant that instead of being­ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 forced to wind up its operations at the ing consultations between the UN 2 Wednesday January 17 1990 THE NAMIBIAN ANC executives in Lusaka for policy talks \ ~.... 6,;> '" • PI J ocf\ • /'!------------------­no ~/ YOUR DAlLY GUIDE TO EVENTS WORLD,Wrvl<: LEADERS of the African National Congress (ANC), reunited after more than 25 years in jail and exile, began talks on Tuesday aimed at defining their strategy for negotiations with the South African government. Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki, inside South Africa and by President tion to pave the way for talks. k.ading a group of prominent ANC F,W. de Klerk's drive to seize the The movement says it will only Aquino tries members who arrived in Lusaka on initiative from anti-apartheid forces. drop armed struggle under a negoti­ Monday to an emotional welcome The ANC committed itself last ated end to hostilities once Pretoria from exiled comrades, made a brief year to seek a negotiated settlement has met its conditions for starting public appearan\e to lay a wreath at and says it is ready for talks with De talks. to consolidate a Zambian national monument. Klerk if he meets certain conditions. A three-day ANC national execu­ ANC official Stanley Mabizela said First among these is the release of tive committee beginning on Thurs­ they would meet the nationalist Nelson Mandela, widely expected in day may co-opt Sisulu and others movement's policy-making inner the next few weeks. into its ranks. Sisulu, a former party army support cabinet and then attend an official Mandela's detention has been the secretary-general, is currently, like reception hosted by Zambian Presi­ focus of a highly successful world­ Mandela, just an ordinary ANC dent Kenneth Kaunda. wide campaign by the ANC but his member taking orders from Lusaka. PRESIDENT Corazon Aquino, attempting to head off a fresh coup The arrival of Sisulu and his grey­ release could backfire on the oranisa­ However, major leadership changes attempt in the Philippines, launched a series of meeting on Tuesday haired group of prison veterans has tion if world opinion sees it as the end including the naming of a successor with military officers to hear their problems and secure their lifted the morale of the 78-year-old of South Africa's problems. to ailing ANC President Oliver Tambo loyalty. organisation, driven into exile in the _ The ANC argue that any conces­ will not be possible until a full con­ Aquino gave a luncheon for 25 army captains and 15 lieutenants at the Mala­ early 1960s. sions made by De Klerk have been gress is held in June. canang presidential palace, and a spokesman said she 'intended to meet officers in But senior AN C officials said their wrung from him by pressure and that Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda small groups twice a week for "free-wheeling dialogue". trip was more than a sentimental South Africa must not be "let off the warned the ANC leaders when he "We expect the officers that are called by the president will express their minds reunion between men who last 'met hook". welcomed them on Monday that they and to me that will give the president a better bird' s eye view ... on the thinking of all 27 years ago. This week's meetings are expected would have to do more to secure of the officers," military spokesman Brigadier-General Oscar Florendo told report­ Some Congress members have to discuss how to handle Mandela's unity among anti-apartheid forces or ers. registered concern that the ANC might release and how to respond if De risk the South African government Aquino's military adviser, Major-General Mariano Adalem, said the junior be outpaced by fast-moving changes Klerk lifts the ban on the organisa- exploiting their divisions. officers had largely raised grievances about promotion bottlenecks within the military, particularly from captain to major and major to lieutenant-colonel. They also discussed their pay and allowances, operational support in the field, and briefed her on how they had acted during the December 1-7 mutiny, the sixth and most serious attempt to topple Aquino in almost four years.