Thousands of Namibians return home; UNTAG troops now in place, South African military withdraws.

Thousands of Namibians return home

Namibia's transition to independence was firmly back on track at the end of June with thousands of exiles returning, South African troops confined to base and withdrawing on schedule, repeal of discriminatory and restrictive laws, and the opening of UN Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) centres all over the country.

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced he would travel to Namibia in mid-July to see for himself how the UN-aided independence process was proceeding.

Security Council members on 24 May expressed their satisfaction that the situation in Namibia "now seemed to be returning to normal" and that the way had been cleared for the independence process, launched on 1 April, to proceed.

After a number of incidents involving border crossings and armed clashes between South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) personnel and Namibian police and South African troops, an agreement was signed on 9 April at Mt. Etjo, Namibia, by Angola, Cuba and South Africa, with the United States and the USSR as observers. It called for SWAPO forces to withdraw to Angola, and for South African troops to return to base by 13 May, after completion of the SWAPO withdrawal.

When the crisis erupted, there were only some 100 UN troops in northern Namibia. In the weeks that followed, UNTAG battalions from Finland, Kenya and Malaysia arrived in the country and were dispatched to their posts, mostly in the north.

By 2 May, the 4,650-strong military component of UNTAG was fully deployed and hundreds of civilian staff were either on the job or on their way to Namibia. Some 2,000 civilian staff of the United Nations are expected to take part in the Namibia operation.

Following allegations involving the South West Africa Police (SWAPOL) in northern Namibia, Mr. Perez de Cuellar decided on 11 May to double the number of the UN civilian police monitoring the territory--from 500 to 1,000.

By the end of June, UNTAG police monitors in the north had received over 200 complaints regarding SWAPOL actions. The issue of police brutality was discussed often at continuing meetings between Martti Ahtisaari, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Namibia, and Louis Pienaar, Namibia's Administrator-General.

"I am determined that the situation in the north of this country will again become one in which Namibians can live in peace and without fear", Mr. Ahtisaari stated on 22 June.

The Secretary-General on 6 June appointed Legwaila Joseph Legwaila of Botswana as his Deputy Special Representative for Namibia and B.A. Clark of Nigeria as UNTAG Political Representative in Angola, to assist Special Representative Ahtisaari. Both were former Permanent Representatives of their countries to the United Nations.

Discriminatory laws

repealed

The elimination of discriminatory laws in Namibia was an immediate UNTAG goal. On 4 May, a draft proclamation on voter registration was published in order to obtain, in a 21-day period, the views of the Namibian public on its context.

On 6 June, agreement was announced on an amnesty law and repeal of the first round of restrictive and discriminatory legislation which would have inhibited the holding of free and fair elections. Repeal of a second group of laws was also being discussed.

Full amnesty was granted to about 41,000 Namibian exiles, who started arriving back in the Territory in mid-June. The amnesty covered all persons born in Namibia who had been living outside the country, and their spouses and children.

Amnesty opens

repatriation floodgates

Within days of the signing of the amnesty law on 12 June, the first charter flights carrying hundreds of returnees landed in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, and in Ondangwa, in the north.

By the end of June, more than 10,000 Namibians had returned home. They were expected to keep pouring in at a rate of some 1,000 a day until the end of July.

The massive six-week repatriation exercise was organized and supervised by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those who returned spent up to a week at UNHCR Reception sites before being transported to their hometowns by chartered bus. Before entering the country, all had been vaccinated against yellow fever.

The 41,000 persons--just short of two thirds of the total estimated 69,000 Namibian exiles--had registered at UNHCR offices around the world for their return. It was expected that many others would come back on their own.

A new era

As hundreds of Namibians in a festive mood attended the official openings in May of UNTAG offices throughout the country, hundreds of South African troops were leaving the country.

"The withdrawal is proceeding on schedule", a spokesman for the Secretary-General confirmed in New York. Only 2,013 of the estimated 8,880 South African soldiers stationed in Namibia at the start of the independence process remained in the territory by 20 June. Significant reductions were also made in the numbers of the South African Air Force and the South West Africa Territorial Force.

UNTAG civilian staff and police monitors attended political rallies in May, at the request of the Namibian political parties. Under a protective UN presence, these rallies proceeded freely and peacefully, and Namibia appeared at last to be entering a new era, heading for independence.