| 1989 |
John Ya Otto becomes
General Secretary of the NUNW. |
| 16.01. |
The first group of
450 Cuban troops withdraw from Angola in the second week of January. UN
Secretary-General Péres de Cuéllar recommends substantial cuts to the size
and cost of UNTAG’s military component (from 7 500 to approximately 4 500
troops). At the same time SA Foreign Minister Pik Botha announces the
reduction of SA Police personnel in Namibia, and General Johannes Geldenhuys,
SADF Commander in Namibia, announces cutbacks in the number of troops
stationed in the territory. After many previously attempts the UN Security
Council manages to agree that implementation of Resolution 435 would begin
on 01.04.1989. |
| 18.01. |
The civilian
component of UNTAG is established with 300 professional personnel for the
political, electoral and administrative offices at headquarters in Windhoek
and the 42 regional and district political field offices. A second group of
about 180 comes for the registration process, which begins after three
months. |
| 20.01. |
Timothy Dibuama, the
UN Secretary-General’s military adviser, proposes that UNTAG keeps the
original ceiling of 7 500 troops, but in the first instance only 4 650 would
be deployed: three battalions, each with five companies: the other four
battalions would be kept in their home countries, in reserve. |
| February |
The United Democratic
Front of Namibia (UDF) is formed, with Reggie Diergaardt’s LP and Justus ||Garoëb
(Damara Council) as founding members.
The Rehoboth Volksparty is revived by Arrie Hermanus Smit, and forms an
alliance with the NNF.
The United Liberation Movement is formed to join the NPLF.
The Namibia National Democratic Party (NNDP) is formed under the
chairmanship of Paul Helmuth after a split in the National Democratic Party.
The NNF is revived.
Action Christian National (ACN) is formed under the leadership of JWF "Kosie"
Pretorius. |
| 16.02. |
In passing the
enabling SC Resolution 632, the UN Security Council agrees to the terms of
implementation of Resolution 435 on 01.04.1989. By that date, UNTAG forces
are to be in place, including those to man the reception points at which
PLAN soldiers are to be confined to base. South African troops are to be
restricted to bases at Grootfontein or Oshivelo, or both In particular, the
Council is at last freed from constraints preventing UNTAG from sending
preparatory staff into the country. Abdou Ciss is now
able to bring his key personnel to Windhoek where they meet with Steven
Fanning and Rachel Mayanja. |
| 20.02. |
South Africa objects
that Sweden provides UNTAG with a transport company. Timothy Dibuama
proposes that Poland might just be able to fulfil this task. It is under
greatest pressure that South Africa accepts this proposal, and Australia,
Canada and Denmark for logistical support. |
| 24.02. |
New problems in the
implementation of Resolution 435 come to the forefront. The
"Non-Aligned-Movement" questions whether UNTAG is permitted to purchase in
South Africa despite the existence of sanctions, in spite of the fact that
UNTAG cannot survive in Namibia without purchasing from South Africa. Only
the hint that independent countries like Zambia and Zimbabwe are massively
dependent upon South Africa, despite the sanctions, resolved the situation. |
| 26.02. |
General D Prem Chand,
Commander of UNTAG’s military contingent, and 20 other senior military and
UNTAG officials arrive in Windhoek. The first contingent of UNTAG soldiers
arrives some days later. |
| 28.02. |
The TGNU dissolves
itself.
Administrator-General Louis Pienaar assumes control over governmental
affairs in Namibia. |
| March |
The Christian
Democratic Party (CDP) is formed under the leadership of Petrus "Piet"
Matheus Junius, as a merger with the CDU. The latter is disbanded by its
leader Andrew Kloppers, who in 1988 had left the DTA to join the LP, and
thereafter the Namibia Volksparty in alliance with the DTA.
The National Patriotic Front (NPF) is formed by SWANU-MPC (Moses Katjiuongua),
CANU (Siseho Simasiku) and ANS (Eben van Zijl). |
| 01.03. |
The UN General
Assembly accepts the Namibian peace plan, but cuts its budget from US $ 700
million to US $ 416 million. |
| 14.03. |
The UN
Secretary-General, Péres de Cuéllar, proceeds to arrange for the formal
agreement on a cease-fire between SWAPO and South Africa as envisaged in UN
SC Resolution 435. In this regard he addresses identical letters
simultaneously to SWAPO (accepted on 18.03.) and the South African
Government (accepted on 21.03.), suggesting the beginning of the formal
cease-fire at 04:00 Greenwich Mean Time on 01.04.1989. |
| 16.03. |
UN lawyers have been
allowed to make a major concession to the South Africans during the final
stages of negotiation of the "UNTAG Status of Forces Agreement". They agree
with South Africa that SA could refuse visas to anybody of UNTAG if and when
they feel like it. Consequently the South Africans deny visas to many UNTAG
staff, especially press and information people. Martti Ahtisaari exercises
strong pressure on the South African representative in Windhoek, Jeremy
Shearar, to get this ban lifted. |
| 21.03. |
Vezera "Bob" Kandetu,
Deputy Secretary of the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), expresses that
the Namibian churches are concerned "about how the South Africans are
preparing to "cook" events, especially the arrangements concerning the
elections". |
| 29.03. |
General Prem Chand
from UNTAG expresses concern that up-to-date, three days before the
implementation of UN SC Resolution 435, there is no indication of a
cease-fire on the South African side. |
| 29./30.03. |
Sam Nujoma inspects
military parades of PLAN soldiers at the Hainjeko Military Academy in
Lubango, Cahama, Xangongo and other SWAPO military training centres in
Angola, and reads to them the terms of the cease-fire which is to come into
full effect on 01.04.1989. He tells them that from that day most of them
will become civilians again and will return to Namibia to take part in the
"political mobilisation of the masses and to vote for SWAPO". |
| 31.03. |
The Special
Representative for UNTAG, Martti Ahtisaari, arrives in Windhoek to take over
the functions of the interim government together with the
Administrator-General. He is received at the Windhoek International Airport
by pro-South African forces. SWAPO gives an order to stay away from the
event. SWAPO supporters should rather delay their demonstrations until the
real implementation of SC Resolution 435 commences on 01.04.1989.
Sam Nujoma announces the United Nations supervised cease-fire in Lubango, in
the presence of Hidipo Hamutenya and the Governador da Provincia du
Cunene (Angola), Pedro Mutindi.
Ahtisaari holds its first "cabinet meeting" with Prem Chand, Danny Opande
(Brigadier-General, Kenyan, Chand's Deputy), Abdou Ciss, Steven Fanning,,
Hisham Omayad, Cedric Thornberry and Omar Halim ( Indonesian, Thornberry’s
deputy) in the afternoon in Windhoek. Prem Chand reports that matters are
moving along pretty well on the military side, but he lacks vehicles. He has
a liaison team in Angola, and the Angolans have promised to be co-operative
over SWAPO’s "confinement to base". However, at the moment he is not
monitoring them there and does not even know how many PLAN soldiers are in
base, or where the bases are.
Roman-Catholic missionary stations in Ovamboland, with their well organised
information network, report to their headquarters in Windhoek that on the
evening of 31.03. South African security forces are concentrated on the
northern border. This is in contravention of SC Resolution 435 which states
that the SA forces are to be restricted to base (Oshivelo or Grootfontein).
The church reports that the South Africans are apparently preparing to stop
PLAN soldiers infiltrating the country. The Vicar General, Nordkamp,
immediately contacts both the UN representatives in Windhoek and the South
African authorities. The UN do not believe him. The South Africans answer
him: "We have found the enemy. Tomorrow [01.04.1989] we will seize
them". In the evening South Africa hosts an official dinner for UNTAG at
the "South West Africa House", the residence of the Administrator-General,
Louis Pienaar. The South African Foreign Minister, Pik Botha, and the SA
Minister for Defence, Magnus Malan, give a chilling account of what is
happening on the northern border to Angola. They maintain that SWAPO has put
about 150 of its PLAN soldiers across the border, fully armed, and that it
has a further 750 troops just to the north, apparently ready to cross. After
the dinner Ahtisaari calls New York and suggests the UN Secretary-General to
call in Theo-Ben Gurirab, SWAPO’s representative at the United Nations and
the Angolan Ambassador and to tell them what the South Africans have said
tonight and to convey the gravest concern to them. |
| April |
Four reception
centres for returning Namibian exiles (approximately 40 000) are designed by
Namibia Consult Incorporated under the directorship of Klaus Dierks. The
centres are located at Döbra, Mariabronn near Grootfontein, and at Ongwediva
and Engela in Ovamboland. They are administered under the auspices of the
Repatriation, Resettlement and Reconstruction Committee (RRR Committee:
Chairman: Wilfried Neusel, Secretary-General: Immanuel Dumeni, Treasurer:
Carl Scholz) of the CCN.
During UNTAG’s peak they have more than 8 000 personnel from 21 countries
(military ), 25 countries (police) and 80 countries (civil) in Namibia.
UNTAG’s postal services have a civil component (G Andal) in the Philip
Troskie Building in Windhoek. The military component is served by the Danish
UNTAG contingent (Borge Knudsen) in the Suiderhof military base in Windhoek. |
| 01.04. |
Implementation of SC
Resolution 435 commences, initiating the holding of UN-supervised free and
fair elections for a Constituent Assembly. The cease-fire between SWAPO and
SA comes into effect. UNTAG is not yet fully deployed (fewer than one
quarter of the envisaged - already reduced - 4 650 UNTAG troops are present
in Namibia and are not strategically deployed as yet, especially not in the
north).
The independence process falters the day it begins, as an estimated 600 PLAN
soldiers (as claimed by Pik Botha) enter Namibia from Angola and clash with
SA-led security forces in northern Namibia. This allegation reflects the
South African position as supported by some of the western powers. The real
number of PLAN soldiers which enters Namibia from Angola, or whether these
troops really come from Angola, or whether they are already in Namibia, are
issues still to be verified by further research. The incident is used by the
South Africans to motivate the Special Representative for UNTAG, Martti
Ahtisaari (he receives an ultimatum from the South Africans who give him
only half-an-hour to think it over), to release South African troops out of
their restricted bases at Grootfontein and Oshivelo. On the other hand many
Namibian sources show that PLAN soldiers have always been in northern
Namibia. One witness , Johannes Kutumba, is the only survivor of 28 PLAN
soldiers who are killed during April 1989. Kutumba reports that his unit has
been in hiding in northern Namibia since December 1988. Klaus Dierks reports
later that he personally had been inside PLAN camps within Namibia before
the 01.04.1989.
The decisive clause in SC Resolution 435 states that "Provision for SWAPO
forces inside Namibia at the time of cease-fire to be restricted to base at
designated locations inside Namibia to be specified by Special
Representative after necessary consultation".
As regards "SWAPO bases in Namibia", all available evidence points to the
reality that although PLAN soldiers frequently cross from Angola into
Namibia, and stay for longer periods in the bush and among the people, they
return to Angola once their tasks had been carried out. They don’t have
"bases" in Namibia, in the sense of permanent installations containing
personnel and technical infrastructure.
The South Africans maintain that PLAN has come to carry out offensive
actions against South African security installations, to cut of the Ondangwa
to Oshakati highway, to sabotage the southward power line from Ruacana,
telephone lines and road bridges. There are plans for large-scale
mine-laying, the cutting of water pipelines and to infiltrate the "white"
farming areas around Tsumeb. The chief of the SWA Police, Dolf Gous,
maintains that the PLAN forces don’t care about the proposed cease-fire. "They
are not even trying to hide their tracks". These South African
accusations are never found to be substantiated. Two taken PLAN
prisoners-of-war - who were seriously beaten up by the South Africans - are
interrogated by Daniel Opande and Ed Omotoso from UNTAG. The answers the two
prisoners are giving are consistent and are holding up under detailed
questioning. Both men are found to be convincing. Each says that "they
have been ordered by his commander to enter Namibia peacefully and not to
engage the South African security forces, because a cease-fire comes into
effect on 01.04.1989 and there is to be no more fighting. The UN personnel
would come and take care of them".
Instead of being received by UNTAG, the PLAN soldiers are ambushed by the
South African forces. Preliminarily the clashes are concentrated in the
areas of Ohangwena, Omafu, Onuno, Engela, Endola and
Ondeshifiilwa. The real fighting only starts on 02.04. when the situation
becomes clear that there is no cease-fire.
In the next days and weeks the South African counter-insurgency forces
cannot be restrained. They choose instead to have a bloodbath, a massacre.
In 1998 the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission refers to the
suspicion that grave crimes were committed by those forces at that time. It
was alluding to reports of the summary execution of many SWAPO prisoners [Report
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 1998, Vol. 2].
Pro-SWAPO demonstrations staged in Windhoek to welcome UNTAG are from the
start crushed by the SWA Police under the command of Jumbo Smit. The German
member of Parliament, Uschi Eid, and Klaus Dierks lodge a protest with the
UN representatives in Windhoek, without any success. The demonstrations
continue, however, in Katutura. With between 10 000 and 15 000 participants,
these are the largest demonstrations ever held in the history of Namibia.
The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrives in Windhoek, coming
from Blantyre in Malawi. She immediately supports Botha's stand on the
events at the northern border without any inquiry being made as to the truth
of his claims.
Monument at Ondeshifiilwa
remembering the Occurences of April 1st, 1989
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks |
| 03.04. |
SA troops (three
battalions) which, according to SC Resolution 435 are to be restricted to
base at Oshivelo and Grootfontein, leave their bases with the approval of UN
Special Representative Martti Ahtisaari, to stop the SWAPO troops. Heavy
fighting ensues, with 300 SWAPO (some of the killed persons are not PLAN
soldiers but merely known local SWAPO supporters and private people)
soldiers and 27 SA soldiers killed.
Theo-Ben Gurirab, SWAPO’s representative at the United Nations, rips into
Martti Ahtisaari speaking of the hands of the United Nations covered in
Namibian blood. |
| 04.04. |
Peter Mweshihange,
SWAPO’s Secretary for Defence, speaks in Luanda, Angola. He says that SWAPO
has been waiting for the United Nations to put an end to the fighting for
the last three days and that it is ready to accept a new cease-fire. It is
now up to Ahtisaari, who had requested the use of the South African troops,
to get his allies also to accept a cease-fire. The PLAN soldiers have orders
now to lie low, inside Namibia, until the cease-fire is in place. Then, they
have to be regrouped in order to present themselves to UNTAG. "Unfortunately,
UNTAG denied them this opportunity. UNTAG’s and South Africa’s insistence
that SWAPO cadres should be expelled from Namibia, their one and only
motherland, to Angola, is contrary to the UN independence plan ... ."
However, internal SWAPO leaders like Niko Bessinger, Jerry Ekandjo and Danny
Tjongarero are obviously not informed by the SWAPO
leadership in Luanda about SWAPO’s latest movements, though they are the
designated liaison personnel until the external leadership would return to
Namibia.
David Smuts, Namibian lawyer who runs the Namibian human right’s centre,
informs UNTAG about events in the north of Namibia during the last weekend.
It is a chilling account, suggesting the arrival and congregation of PLAN
forces in a peaceful manner and their being set upon by the South African
security forces. Bodies were then piled together in heaps and left to
decompose. |
| 06.04. |
South Africa proposes
that PLAN soldiers who disarm would be taken out of the country to
designated entry points at the northern border and would then be brought
back as returnees. The Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) informs Martti
Ahtisaari that they had been caught entirely by surprise by the events of
01.04.1989. |
| 07.04. |
The
Administrator-General Pienaar unilaterally suspends the independence
process. The SA Foreign Minister Pik Botha quickly contradicts Pienaar with
a statement that South Africa remains fully committed to SC Resolution 435.
The UN Secretary-General orders the early mobilisation of three UNTAG-battalions
from Finland, Kenya and Malaysia. |
| 08.04. |
Sam Nujoma, in order
to safeguard the peace process according to SC Resolution 435, orders all
SWAPO troops to cross the border into Angola. But the fights still continue
until 24.04.
The Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) proposes that church premises in
the north (Oniipa, Oshigambo, Engela, Odibo, Mpungu, Okatana, Oshikuku and
Anamulenge) could provide the place UNTAG needs to accommodate SWAPO
soldiers before their return to Angola. The combination of church sanctuary
and UN flag would be a potent solution. |
| 09./11.04. |
Representatives of
SA, Angola and Cuba in the Joint Monitoring Commission, with US (Chester
Crocker), Soviet (Anatoly Adamishin), and UNTAG observation, meet at Mount
Etjo to salvage the independence plan. The parties agree that SWAPO troops
should be assembled at 16 assembly points and withdraw from Namibia to the
16<sup>th</sup> latitude in Angola, under guarantee of safe passage. All
assembly points would be under UNTAG supervision and be operational by noon
on 11.04.1989. |
| 11.04. |
The Mount Etjo
Agreement is in jeopardy before its starts because the South African troops
continue fighting and block the PLAN combatants’ withdrawal to Angola. Very
few PLAN fighters show up at the official assembly points due to the highly
visible South African army mechanised infantry units camping alongside the
unarmed UN peacekeepers. Administrator-General Louis Pienaar states that
UNTAG and the South African security forces had "agreed that PLAN
soldiers would be interrogated in order to verify the suspected number of
infiltrators ... ". Pienaar’s statement is
consequently overruled by Pik Botha who states there is no question of
interrogation. |
| 13.04. |
Even without the
threat of interrogation, the SA security forces keep a high intimidatory
profile and move freely and openly around the assembly points and the
churches. No PLAN soldiers come to the assembly points and very few to the
churches. A fatal encounter takes place in the Kaokoveld, at an assembly
point near Swartbooisdrift. It looks as if some wounded stragglers were
trying to reach some form of sanctuary and were ambushed by the South
Africans just short of it. |
| 17.04. |
Only seven PLAN
soldiers have come so far to the official assembly points and to the
churches.
UNTAG advance parties of the three 850 all-ranks battalions - from Finland,
Kenya and Malaysia - were in Namibia prior to 01.04.1989, but the remaining
troops do not arrive before 17.04. (Finland) and 01.05. (Kenya and
Malaysia). Indeed, their arrival has been advanced in all cases by two weeks
because of the new conflict. The Finns go to the Kavango, the Malaysians to
Ovamboland, and the Kenyans to the centre and the south of the country. The
four remaining battalions - from Bangladesh, Togo, Venezuela and Yugoslavia
- are held on reserve in their home countries. |
| 18.04. |
Angola and Cuba
demand direct talks between SWAPO and the South Africans in order to save
the Mount Etjo Agreement. SWAPO and South Africa agree to meet at Ruacana.
The SWAPO delegation is led by Nahas Angula and Erastus Negonga while the
South Africans are led by General Willie Meyer and Carl von Hirschberg. The
talks lead to a South African agreement to respect the cease-fire agreement,
and to initiate to a 60 hours cease-fire beginning at 26.04. |
| 20.04. |
UNTAG opens the first
United Nations Civilian Police (UNCIVPOL) office in Windhoek-Katutura. Two
hundred UN police men will be sent to the north by next week. UNTAG is,
however, held back by the lack of accommodation, vehicles, communications,
and in the north by the absence of mine-resistant vehicles (MRVs). UNTAG
cannot send the police around in the north in soft-skinned vehicles. The SA
security forces, who know the situation much better than the United Nations,
never leave paved roads without their MRVs. UNTAG gets the first twenty MRVs
from the SA Army, but only four are working.
Most of UNTAG’s military observers in Angola are by this time stationed in
the south of the country, at Chibemba, where they can keep track of the
number of SWAPO soldiers coming north. |
| 25.04. |
The South African
security forces inform UNTAG at Oshakati that they have the intention to
hand over a number of SWAPO prisoners taken during the previous weeks’
fighting. When Martti Ahtisaari and Marrack Goulding arrive on 26.04. they
are told that 31 prisoners would be given to UNTAG. But, no hand-over
arrangements are made with the Angolese authorities, and there is no
accommodation at Oshakati. So UNTAG has to fall back on its church friends,
and Bishop Kleophas Dumeni from ELCIN agrees to provide such accommodation
at Ongwediva for the 26 who are reasonably fit (five other are taken to the
church hospital at Oniipa). On 27.04. the 26 PLAN soldiers go by road to the
Angola border, having been checked medically, and interviewed to make sure
that they want to go back. |
| 26.04. |
The South African
troops are again confined to base for 60 hours in order to enable SWAPO
troops to cross the border into Angola at certain agreed points under the
control of the UNTAG military component. |
| 27./28.04. |
The Cape Town Joint
Commission is attended for UNTAG by Martti Ahtisaari, Marrack Goulding, Prem
Chand and Ed Omotoso and by the South African Administrator-General for SWA.
Its key decision is that, following the confinement to base of South African
forces that is occurring simultaneously with the meeting, a "process of
verification", lasting fourteen days until 06h00 on 13.05., would be
conducted. "On this date, the confinement of all SWAPO troops in Angola
to bases north of the 16th parallel under UNTAG monitoring, would have been
completed. The South African forces will resume restriction to base and the
implementation of Security Council Resolution 435 will continue as
originally scheduled". |
| 28.04. |
After the expulsion
of the president George Mutwa together with Lemmy Matengu and Ernest Likando
CANU splits, into CANU-NPF and CANU-UDF (allied to the United Democratic
Front). Siseho Simasiku becomes president of the CANU-NPF and Mutwa
president of the CANU-UDF. |
| 30.04. |
The British newspaper
Sunday Telegraph reports an account of the condition of eighteen
bodies of killed PLAN fighters with wounds consistent with their having been
executed rather than killed in combat. |
| May |
UNTAG military forces
and civilian police personnel finally reach their mandated strength. The UN
appoints a commission to investigate all complaints of violations of the
principles of impartiality during the transition.
The Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) is founded under the leadership of,
inter alia, Werner Henry Mamugwe, Attie Beukes (grandson of Samuel
Beukes who fought the Germans in 1915 and the South Africans in 1925) and
Erica Beukes. The WRP joins the UDF alliance and later the Socialist
Alliance of Namibia (SAN). |
| 08.05. |
The Administrator-Generals’s
senior staff are improving their relations with UNTAG. UNTAG is now able,
sometimes informally, to do a great deal of business with people like Carl
von Hirschberg, Kobus Bauermeester, Gerd Roux and John Viall.
On the same day UNTAG asks for the suspension of a senior policeman as a
result of a South African police raid (Koevoet (crow bar)) on a
church hospital in the north where Koevoet broke into the place in
search of SWAPO soldiers whom they thought had sought sanctuary there. Von
Hirschberg granted the suspension and proposed a joint committee to which
all problems about bias and intimidation could be sent, with the authority
to call on the Attorney-General to initiate prosecutions. |
| 13.05. |
The South African
security forces return to base. Since the Cape Town Joint Commission meeting
at the end of April they had searched for SWAPO arm caches and had killed
four more SWAPO personnel. |
| 15.05. |
A second meeting at
Ruacana between UNTAG and the South Africans takes place. South Africa
confirms now that the situation existing on the 31.03.1989 has now been
restored and that South African security forces should continue to be
restricted to base. UNTAG General Opande tells the meeting that he had
counted 1 442 PLAN members returning to Angola and Angolan General Ndalu
confirms that there are no SWAPO personnel south of the 16th parallel. The
parties agree to meet again at Cahama in Angola on 19.05. |
| 16.05. |
Angola proposes a
peace plan to eight African leaders at a Luanda summit.
UN Secretary-General Péres de Cuéllar presents to the UN Security Council a
resolution on the need for impartiality of the United Nations (UN Document
S/20635). |
| 17.05. |
The
Administrator-General appoints the Judicial Commission for the Prevention of
Intimidation and Election Malpractices (The Commission winds up its work on
17.11.). Chairman is Bryan O’Linn. |
| 19.05. |
Hompa
Angelina Matumbo Ribebe is inaugurated as Queen of the Shambyu area in
Kayengona in the Kavango. |
| 22.05. |
The
Administrator-General commences to pass the necessary legislation and takes
the appropriate administrative measures to ensure the envisaged free and
fair process leading to Namibian independence. The first one is Proclamation
AG 11 which provides for the "Establishment and Powers of the Commission for
the Prevention and Combatting of Intimidation and Election Malpractices". |
| June |
Another 1 200 Cuban
troops leave Angola, bringing the total of Cubans having left to 2 000
(since January). |
| 01.06. |
SC Resolution 435
requires the demobilisation of the South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF)
and of what is called "citizen forces" and "commandos" which should have
been completed by 01.04.1989. The latter two number 11 158. Their arms and
equipment is deposited in drill halls and is guarded by UNTAG infantry. The
SWATF consists of 21 661, all ranks, and should have been demobilised by
01.04.1989. Much of it had then been remobilised after the events of 01.04
and thereafter, but it fully stands down by to-day. Its members, however,
believe themselves to be on indefinite leave, rather than demobilised. They
keep their uniforms and report twice a month to receive their pay from South
African senior officers (all in civilian clothes). UNTAG believes this is a
breach of the Settlement Plan, dismissing South African arguments based on
the danger of future SWAPO incursions. This thorny issue is not resolved
until the November 1989 elections, when the possibility begins to be
examined of creating a national army for Namibia. |
| 08.06. |
The
Administrator-General passes Proclamation AG 14 for the "First Law amendment
(Abolition of Discriminatory of Restrictive Laws for purposes of Free and
Fair Elections)". |
| 12.06. |
The
Administrator-General declares a general amnesty for all Namibians living
abroad, lifts prohibitions on political activities and repeals or amends 46
discriminatory laws (AG 16 of 1989). This enables the return of Namibian
exiles. |
| mid-June |
By this time UNTAG
has its five official networks in place. The military component provides the
first network. The second link is the UN’s civilian police who was increased
from 500 to 1 500 during the first months of the mission. The UNTAG
administration represents the third network which attends to mission support
and logistics. The fourth one is the electoral division, headed by Hisham
Omayad. The fifth network is supported by 42 regional (ten) and district
(32) centres. Although the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) and the RRR Committee of the CCN operate autonomously, they are in
fact co-ordinated closely with UNTAG, and its network of primary and
secondary reception centres (planned by Namibia Consult Incorporated under
the directorship of Klaus Dierks) provide an important potential link
between the United Nations and various events in Namibia. |
18.06.
|
The repatriation of
Namibian exiles begins in the second week of June, under the auspices of the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the RRR Committee of
the CCN. The first group of senior SWAPO leaders returns from exile (inter
alia Hage Gottfried Geingob, Libertine Amathila, Theo-Ben Gurirab,
Hidipo Hamutenya and Pendukeni Iivula Ithana), and SWAPO’s first appeal for
national reconciliation follows their return. Altogether 42 736 Namibians
return from exile from 42 countries, including about 7 000 PLAN soldiers in
civilian clothes with their commanders, far more than the 30 000 Namibians
who fought against SWAPO in the South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF)
and around 6 000 others who belonged to the South West African Police or
para-military units such as Koevoet. Most of the exiles return from the
SWAPO Camp Kwanza Sul in Angola.
The South Africa controlled South West African Broadcasting Corporation
(SWABC) ignores completely this major event. Not only was there no news item
on the evening news, there was no news at all, without explanation. When
SWAPO held its first press conference on the eve of Ahtisaari’s arrival on
31.03.1989, at least SWABC didn’t panic so much that they cancelled the
news, they just ignored SWAPO and promoted the DTA instead.
The SWABC’s partiality in favour of the South African colonial authority
under the leadership of Piet Venter and his deputy, Piet Coetzer, continues
until well after the November elections. UN document S/20883 dated
06.10.1989 describes the unsatisfactory performance of the SWABC. UNTAG’s
failure to change the SWABC’s biassed behaviour can be described as its
principal failure in Namibia. The Namibia Peace Plan 435 (NPP-435)(Nahum
Gorelick) monitors continuously the SWABC conduct.
Pendukeni Ithana becomes Deputy Head of Legal Services in the SWAPO Election
Directorate. Mosé Penaani Tjitendero joins the Election Directorate after
his return from exile.
The South African Government withdraws their budget subsidy of about US$ 200
million per annum to the Namibian treasury. The outcome of South Africa’s
decision would be a serious deterioration in the country’s infrastructure
and the abolition of many essential services. It would not be possible to
meet civil services salaries throughout the financial year ending on
31.03.1990. UNTAG warns South Africa that Namibia is South Africa’s
responsibility until independence. |
| 22.06. |
Angolan President Dos
Santos and UNITA leader Savimbi shake hands at Gbadolite in Zaire, and agree
on a cease-fire to begin at midnight.
The Socialist Alliance of Namibia (SAN) is formed, but becomes dormant in
the same year. The Party’s Secretary-General is Rirua Karihangana. |
| 26.06. |
After complex
negotiations between UNTAG and the Administrator-General, agreement is
finally reached concerning the qualifications for voters registration. The
criteria of four years residence in Namibia, insisted on by the United
Nations, is now accepted for non-native Namibians. South African military or
civilian officials who wish to apply to register are required to make an
additional sworn affidavit that they intend to settle in the territory after
independence. The electorate would also include the adult children of
native-born Namibians. |
| 30.06. |
The
Administrator-General passes Proclamation AG 19 for the "Registration of
voters (Constituent Assembly Proclamation)". |
| 01.07. |
The election campaign
officially starts.
The National Transport Corporation is renamed TransNamib. |
| 02.07. |
SWAPO’s vision of
Independent Namibia is published in its Election Manifesto which is based on
the drafted Constitution of 1975. It makes provision for a bill of
fundamental rights, the structure of state organs, citizenship requirements
and the fundamental characteristics of the future Namibian state under the
principle of "justice and equality for all". |
| 04.07. |
The registration of
voters begins. Anyone entitled to register can do so at any registration
point in Namibia. Sixty nine registration centres are established within the
23 electoral districts. Additionally 110 mobile registration teams are
deployed to cover 2 200 registration points in the rural areas. UNTAG
estimates that approximately 685 276 Namibians are qualified to vote (On the
23.09.1989 701 483 eligible voters are registered). Special voting stations
are to be set up in Swakopmund to cater for those coming from Walvis Bay
which is still part of South Africa. Others are arranged at villages in the
extreme south of Namibia for those travelling to register from other parts
of South Africa. Another is created at the Windhoek International Airport.
The Political Consultative Council (PCC) is formed in Angola by a pressure
group of 153 "SWAPO detainees" to campaign for the release of other
"detainees" allegedly still being held in Angola (as result of the so-called
"spy-crisis"). These detainees are to be returned to Namibia, under UN
auspices.The PCC leaders are, inter alia, Riundja Kaakunga and
Johannes Konjore.
The Roman-Catholic Commission on "Justice and Peace" condemns human right
violations in the SWAPO camps.
External SWAPO communities, based in Zambia, and later in Angola, had been
concerned at the possibility of infiltration by agents of South Africa. As
with all the other southern African liberation movements, this had always
been a real danger and was certainly prevalent. But there has also been
always some form of paranoia on the SWAPO side. Even SWAPO President’s wife,
Kovambo Theopoldine Nujoma, née Katjimune and brother-in law, Aaron
Mushimba, are believed to have been detained at one time or another, and
some quite senior SWAPO people had reportedly still be in detention as late
as February 1989.
The European Parliament adopts a resolution on SWAPO’s prisoners, at the
instigation of a parliamentarian group, most of whose members had shown
little previous concern for the victims of Apartheid.
On 05.05.1989 Martti Ahtisaari had sent a letter to the South African
Administrator-General, to Sam Nujoma, and to the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs of Zambia and Angola, asking for the information about all Namibian
prisoners and detainees, held under their authority or in their territory.
Replies were requested by 20.05.1989. SWAPO and Angola reply within the
deadline. Angola is bland. It says that there are "presently no Namibian
prisoners or detainees in Angolese prisons or SWAPO camps".
During September 1989 UNTAG sends a UN mission, the UN Mission on Detainees
(UNMD), led by Nigerian ex-Ambassador BA Clark, to Angola and Zambia. The
mission roams both countries for several weeks, with the support of the
governments concerned, going everywhere they want, sometimes with minimal
notice, but finds no Namibian detainees. |
| 17.07. |
Ombara
(traditional title) Tuhavi David Kambazembi is sworn in as Chief of the
Kambazembi Royal House in Okakarara.
 
Meeting between the Cabinet Committee: Archives of
Anticolonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle (AACRLS) and the
Council of the Royal Kambazembi House: Okakarara: 29.07.2003
Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
    
Ovaherero Community of the Kambazembi Group at the
Meeting with the Cabinet Committee: Archives of Anticolonial Resistance and
the Liberation Struggle (AACRLS): Okakarara: 29.07.2003
Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
Chief Tjikuua of the Ovaherero Community at
Okakarara at the Meeting with the Cabinet Committee: Archives of
Anticolonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle (AACRLS): 29.07.2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks |
| 20.07. |
The Patriotic Unity
Movement is founded under the presidency of Eric Biwa and joins the UDF
alliance. |
| 21.07. |
The
Administrator-General publishes a draft proclamation on the election
process. Reaction throughout Namibia is hostile because South Africa wants
to heavily influence the forthcoming elections. Discussions on the election
topic between the A.G. and UNTAG continue throughout the months of August
and September and are prolonged and at times bitter. They are so difficult
in their final days at the beginning of October that UNTAG seriously
considers to postpone the elections. One point of concern is that UNTAG
requires that political party agents are allowed at polling stations and at
the count, and that they be allowed to be present at all stages of the
polling. This is to help ensure not only that the voting would be free and
fair, but also that it would be seen to be so by the Namibian people. This
is opposed by the South African side. South Africa tries to the last moment
in October 1989 to influence the establishment of the Constituent Assembly.
The draft proclamation gives renewed proof of South Africa’s embittered
determination to dominate the constitution-making process in Namibia and to
retain control up to the last moment, and possibly beyond.
UN Secretary-General Péres de Cuéllar visits Namibia. He is disturbed about
the continued violence, especially in the northern regions. One of the UN
Secretary-General’s main priorities is to meet with all the parties and meet
with them all together. Everybody comes - the representatives of ten
political parties, large and small, and all the Namibian press to record
this unprecedented meeting. Péres de Cuéllar declares inter alia to the
political parties "Sooner or later, UNTAG and the South Africans will
depart. You, as the representatives of the Namibian people, will achieve
your long-delayed inheritance of independence. You will also shoulder the
full responsibilities of independence, and of nation-building ... ."
Péres de Cuéllar’s suggestions are adopted by all parties. One outcome of
the meeting is the "Code of Electoral Conduct" of 12.09.1989. |
| 25.07. |
The Popular Movement
1904 (PM 1904) is founded as a political pressure group with the aim of
"regrouping the discarded remnants of exterminated Namibians and securing
the safe return with their cattle and belongings" of all refugees who
settled in Botswana in the aftermath of the Ovaherero-German War of 1904/06
and the Ovambanderu War of 1896. Another aim is to bring about "Namibian
dedication to the cause of returning confiscated land". The movement’s first
Secretary is Rirua Karihangana. |
| 24.-28.07. |
The UN Council for
Namibia arranges the UN Conference: "Contingency Planning for Technical
Assistance to Namibia during the Transition to Independence" in
Vienna/Austria. Namibian participants are inter alia: Lindi
Kazombaue, Immanuel Dumeni, Solomon Amadhila, Pius Dunaisky, Fanuel
Tjingaete, Ben Kathindi, Calle Schlettwein, Hermann Weitzel, Bob Meiring and
Klaus Dierks. |
| August |
The Liberal Party is
revived by Andrew Kloppers, and joins the FCN alliance. Following the death
of Andrew Kloppers Snr, Andrew "Andy" John Fred Kloppers becomes the party’s
leader. |
| 04.08. |
The notorious South
African Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) which in the past has been
responsible for numerous human right abuses in Namibia such as the killing
of PLAN prisoners of war, tries to disturb the peace process. Wouter Basson
allegedly tries to poison the water supply system at the Döbra reception
centre for returning Namibian exiles with Vibrio Cholera bacterium. Later
(2000) it is established that he allegedly ordered the "poisoning" of more
than 200 SWAPO soldiers. |
| 10.08. |
South African
right-wingers Horst Klenz, Darryl Stopforth and Leonard Veenendal (the
so-called three "Outjo firebomb attackers") attack the regional offices of
UNTAG in Outjo. In the process two Namibians, Theophilus Haoseb and Ricardo
van Wyk, are killed. After initial arrest, the three South Africans manage
to flee and escape to South Africa. |
| 14.08. |
The South African
President PW Botha resigns. His successor is FW De Klerk (with effect from
15.08.). |
| 23.08. |
Some SWA police
officers, including Koevoet soldiers, shoot at SWAPO members during
election meetings at Onaukali and Okatope. |
| end-August |
To halt intimidation
in Namibia, the UN Security Council unanimously passes UN SC Resolution 640
calling for the demobilisation of all paramilitary groups and local units
(SWATF, Koevoet). On 01.09.1989, in reaction to this resolution, the
South African Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pik Botha, bellows at Martti
Ahtisaari "And tell your Secretary-General to go to hell. If that’s the
line the Secretary-General is taking after the Security Council, I’ll advice
the Acting State President (FW De Klerk) today, and we’ll suspend the
application of 435 tomorrow."
South Africa continues with its support of the biassed SWABC and of
Koevoet and the policy of destabilisation of SWAPO. Pik Botha later
(25.07.1991) admits that South Africa had set up a massive "slush fund" of
100 million South African Rand to fund all opposition parties, especially
the DTA, in an effort to defeat SWAPO in the UNO supervised elections. |
| 28.08. |
Charlie Marengo (born
1901), son of Jakob Marengo, dies in Kakamas, SA. |
| 04.09. |
The Registration of
Political Organisations Proclamation is issued and provides for a judicial
hearing of applications for registration. Each political party has to be
able to present 2 000 signatures of supporters who are also registered
votes, and to make a deposit of R 10 000, returnable to it if one or more of
its candidates succeed in being elected to the Constituent Assembly. Ten
parties are eventually registered. |
| 08.09. |
After all the efforts
by UNTAG to get Koevoet demobilised, the Administrator-General comes
up with a big surprise. He decides that he would discharge Koevoet,
after all. He will place them on leave until the end of the elections. They
will hand in their uniforms and their weapons, and return to civilian life. |
| 09.09. |
Charlie Marengo is
buried at Vaalgras/ Koichas. Wilhelm Konjore, Jakob Marengo’s great
grandson, conducts the burial service. Klaus Dierks and Henning Melber are
the only "whites" to participate in the ceremony. |
| 12.09. |
Advocate Anton
Lubowski, one of SWAPO’s few "white" members and Acting Director of Finance
and Administration in the SWAPO Election Directorate, is assassinated
outside his home in Windhoek. Reportedly the CCB is also responsible for
this murder. |
| 14.09. |
SWAPO President Sam
Nujoma, accompanied by Moses Makue ||Garoëb, returns after 30 years in
exile. He is greeted by SWAPO leaders such as Nathaniel Maxuilili, Hendrik
Witbooi and Hage Geingob and thousands of SWAPO supporters at the Windhoek
International Airport. |
| 15.09. |
UNCIVPOL reaches its
final strength of 1 500. Policemen of 25 countries take part in the
peacekeeping effort. For the first time both Germanies participate with
their police forces in this effort. The German Democratic Republic (GDR)
tumbles over themselves to offer police contingents. UNTAG thinks the
presence of their police, monitoring the South West African Police (SWAPOL),
might be an interesting consciousness-raising exercise. Indeed the GDR
police are enthusiastically ensuring Namibia’s free and fair elections the
very moment on 09.11.1989 that, back home, their own excited citizens are
ripping down the "Berlin Wall". A special task is to control SA’s "special
operations" unit, Koevoet (crow bar) which still intimidates the
local population in the north. Many Koevoet and SWAPOL members are
essential there to enforce a colonial-Apartheid system, rather than
to be upholders of a neutral system of law and order and to protect the
people. One example stands for many others. On 15.06. Koevoet
brandished their power at the UNHCR camp for returning refugees at
Ongwediva. UNTAG counted between 70 and 80 casspir armoured vehicles
encircling the camp. But the strength of SWAPOL begins to diminish after
UNCIVPOL has reached its full strength. By the time of the November
elections, UNCIVPOL is effectively the only organised law-enforcing body in
the north of Namibia. UNCIVPOL also provides first-line policing for the
UNHCR’s programme of returnee-return, being present at the critical points
of entry, and at the primary and secondary reception centres. UNCIVPOL is
especially active in monitoring SWAPOL as the election campaign and
programme of rallies becomes more intense. By the time of the elections
UNCIVPOL is attending about 100 rallies a week, with SWAPOL appearing only
sporadically. |
| 22.09. |
The registration of
voters ends. |
| 28.09. |
At Windhoek-Katutura
there is an affray between SWAPO and the DTA supporters, the worst such
incident since the beginning of the year. About 500 DTA people march into
the middle of the SWAPO area of the township, with clubs and sticks.
Fighting breaks out almost at once and, after a few minutes, someone drives
up and opens fire in all directions. Several people are injured,
miraculously, nobody is killed. The South West African Police (SWAPOL) is
suspici
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