After independence.

• Position: Namibia

United Nations involvement in Namibia is not over yet. Until independence is attained, the Organization's transition team in Windhoek may have to deal with a daunting array of issues, ranging from the re-organization of the South West Africa Broadcasting Corporation to supervising possible recruitment of some 2,000 new SWAPOL members.

Aid programmes for the transition period have already been prepared by half a dozen UN organizations. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is taking steps to set up a new central bank, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has created an international trust fund to meet most urgent needs.

Arrangements are being made to recruit Namibian teachers, doctors, veterinarians, airport personnel and other civilian staff to replace South African military personnel now performing those vital tasks. Any remaining gaps will be filled by internationally recruited personnel.

Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar announced on 3 November that a comprehensive UN economic programme for Namibia would be prepared in close co-operation with the competent local authorities, and an international appeal for aid launched.

Such aid will be needed to cover the government budget deficit resulting from the expected withdrawal of South Africa's subsidy. (In 1989, South Africa provided 18 per cent of the total Namibian government revenue.) Aid will also be needed to improve education, housing and other social infrastructure.

"While Namibia's economic infrastructure is relatively well developed, it has been biased towards a commercial sector which catered to the needs of the colonial administration", according to the UN Department of Technical Cooperation for Development.

That situation provoked "severe imbalances in the provision of social services for the underprivileged sectors of the population and of support services for rural areas", particularly in the northern regions of Ovamboland and Okavango where more than 40 per...