EPISCOPAL CHU~gMEN for SOUTH ,I, AFRlCA 339 Lafayette Street, New York, N.Y., 10012 PHO~~: (212) 477-0066 -"or A Free Soutnem Alrica- THE NOOSE TIGHTENS South"Mr"ican oCcupation officials in Namibia have banned the 12 May and 19 May issues of THE WINDHOEK OBSERVER because they containErl material held to be 'prejudicial to' state security' '. The English-language weekly had printed exact and comprehensive reports by political editor Gwen Lister on the ll-13May conference which took place in lusaka under the sponsorship of Zambian President. Kenneth Kaunda among South Mrica' s administrator-general in Namibia, Dr Willie van Niekerk; meinbers of the Multi-Party Conference, a collection of political groups fostered by the Pretoria regime; SWAPO of N?JIlibia - led by its President, Sam Nuj orna; and a wide assemblage of SWAPO allies united in a Patriotic Front. Gwen Lister, fresh from being acquitted in a South Mrican court of charges of carrying ban­ ned literature, rushed off to Lusaka and produced the best coverage - with photographs - of the ,latest event in 'the long years of parlayover independence for Namibia. THE OBSERVER'S 19 May: issue ran 10 pages of her accounts, detailing what was either ligh-:tly touched on or missed altogether by the Western press: the existence of a Patriotic Front of N~ia. US, Br~1:.j.sll:and other papers talked of SWAPO (sometimes with allies) as an external force and of the 'internal parties' (the MPC). Totally unstated was the more than obvious fact that Namibians, inside their country and in exile, had coalesced as an entity centered on SWAPO: Nor was SWAPO described as what it is, the largest internal party. These threats to Preto; rian rule, these refutations of. the MPC, are what are 'prejudicial to state security' . Pret,oria and those with whom it works on high levels cannot abide the reality of w~t is taking place am:mg Namibians - a uniting of those opposed to the illegal occupatioh 'of their country. In the midst of the cUrrent international maneuvres the truth as presented' by THE WINDHOEK OBSERVER cannot be tolerated. The paper must be destroyed. WINDHOEK OBSERVER .editor Har1nes Smith, political editor Gwen Lister and their co-workers deserve your admiration and support. write them: .THE WINDHOEK OBSERVER POBox 3717 Windhoek 9000 NAMIBIA THE KNITTING TOGETHER The Namibian people have for a century endured foreign rule of a Jrost repressive nature. For the past six and a half decades they· and their land have been a matter' of inter'national re­ sponsibility, since 1946 a center' of controversy at the United Nations, from 1977 the focus of intense diplomatic and political IIEneuvering by forces aiming to thwart the will both of Namibia's lawful guardian, the United Nations, and that of the people of Namibia. Another' chapter' in the endless palaver was racked up in mid-May 1984 at a oonference in Lusaka which did not bring the results its planner's roped for. Instead, lllsaka became the locale of an historic IIEnifestation of Namibian unity and determination. The oonference's host, zambian President Kenneth Kaurrla, emerging as a ~ey figure in the cur­ rent period of Namibian negotiations, and South African representative .Adminis1:ratcr-Gener'al Willem van Niekerk - who was elevated to conference co-chairman, sul:mitted a draft statement to the delegations of the South Africa-backed Multi-Party Conference of six political gIUup­ ings in Namibia and of SWAPO of Namibia) led by President Sam Nujana,consisting of Namibians in exile and from inside the country and joined by allies f!Ulll a wide range of Namibian opin- ion and political organization. The Americans wro have been stage managing so IIEny recent events in souther'n Africa kept well in the background. The oonference broke down and no declaration was issued because of two furrlamental reasons. The .MPC w:>uld not agree that the presence of Cuban troops in Angola supporting that gover'n­ ment's struggle against South African Defence Force invasions and military assaults of the UNITA group srould be dropped as a precondition to a Namibia settlement. United Nations se­ curity Council resolution 435 makes no mention of the Cubans. Both the Reagan administra­ tion and Pretoria insist the Cubans must leave before the implementation of the UN plan can proceed. The other ~ic disagreement was over implementation and a SWAPQ-Pretoria cease­ fire in~.thei.I?18~year-oldwar. SWAPO's Sam Nujoma came to Lusaka stating his Jrovement was ready to· sign a ceasefire forthwith' provided it was followed imnediately by implementation of the UN plan. Van Niekerk and his MPC refused. Pretoria wants aceasefire wen enqt1gh, but it wants a disaJ;'J11eCl SWAPO to become p3.!'t of its controlled political scramble inside Namibia...TheSouth African regime is chipping away at SWAm, trying to undermine'it as the leading force of Namibian nationhood. Pretoria puts up the MPC as a counterweight, a for­ lorn proposition as any of the South African regime's creations for .the p3.st 11 years'~~ At the sartl.E? time Pretoria is trying to undercut 435, striving to avoid altogeth~ any ,uN. pres­ ence in NamibL;i .if and when any electoral process ccmnences. This corrosive trend is re­ flected i.p recent statements by a UN official and others that 435 is clumsy, not the final w:>rd, that i.t· could be changed in'order' to effect a Namibian settlement, one of OOUI'se that meets .the, requirements of Pretoria and Washington. .,.,. , ..•. / 'r What was dem:mstrated at .lllsaka for any wro cared to look beyond the tir€d. political. mani­ pulations was'a-.coming together on an unprecedented scale of Namibians intent on achieving independence for their nation. There have been ooalitions and conventions and teamings up over the last dozen years, but this was a landffiark event. SWAPO President·Sa;rn"Nu]Cma and memb~s '0£ his executive living in exile and the movement's leader'ship<frOm inside Namibia, includ:i.hg Vice-President the Rev Hendrik Witbooi, and AI1dimba Toivo ja Toivo ..:. freed after 18 years in· South African prisons, enjoyed ·a·retihion which undersoored o~e ligai:n the unity of the organiza.tion. ,..... ,',' .' ...; • . '" !-fl' Allied with SWAPO and included by SWAPO in ,its delegation wer'e Narnibians representmg tradi­ .tional groups , entities: fitting .into PretoriaIS'view of hovl' Namibia ought to be p:u:'pelled out, parties oVer'leapmg tP.at same view; individuals. Most damaging to van Niekerk and his Mtilti-Parj:y Conference wer'e parties which had left the, MPC in disgust, the D~a Council ana the Namibian Christian Democratic Party, p1.us the Mbanderu Council which 'had 'resisted enticement into Pretoi::>ia's, front ~ Even rrore galling, a group of members of one of:·the MPC' s leading.components,. SWANU, sat with SWAPO. The SWANU president was frantic. The' progres­ sives withdrew" in ,the inter'est of the conference continuing. SWAPO left their seats, unfilled. Furthenrore, a i:r'io of Namibian businessmen of German descent conferred ·with-· SWP,J'O to the cons~tioT\;oftl}e race-burdened South African contingent. To top it. all, a ~ent white::N.9JIlib~~lawyer returned. to' Windhoek and announced he had become a -member' of SWAPO, urging his\;feliow.~whites ·.todo likewise. The'meeting in lllsaka turn~ o~t to be a. triumph for the Namibian peOple, one nore stage in their agonizing jourTley, to~(l_ .fr~an.,., .:...". '.~ -'~4:;; J-.~ '~~.~_'. •" ". l " 0" i.f......... ,,'\ - ,'~ ~ • --'*-- . .'.