General Assembly demands action for immediate implementation of Namibian independence plan, comprehensive sanctions and South African withdrawal from the territory.

General Assembly demands action for immediate implementation of Namibian independence plan, comprehensive sanctions and South African withdrawal from the Territory

THE General Assembly, at itsfourteenth special session (17-20 September, New York), called on the Security Council to convene urgently to take action for the immediate and unconditional implementation of the United Nations plan for the independence of Namibia, as endorsed by Council resolution 435 (1978).

The Council was also asked to adoptcomprehensive, mandatory sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter as the "most effective peaceful measures" to ensure South African compliance with United Nations resolutions and decisions on Namibia.

In adopting a 21-paragraph resolutionat the conclusion of four days of debate and deliberation, the Assembly also demanded that South Africa immediately and unconditionally withdraw its "illegal administration, occupation army and police force" from Namibia.

The Assembly, in its resolutionS-14/1, also reaffirmed that the United Nations plan for Namibian independence was the only internationally accepted basis for a peaceful settlement of the Namibian question and demanded its immediate implementation "without pre-condition or modification".

The plan foresees a cease-fire in theTerritory under United Nations supervision, to be followed by a withdrawal of South African forces and free elections supervised by the Organization. A United Nations Transition Assistance Group would also be dispatched to the Territory.

The vote on the text--submitted by41 nations on behalf of the United Nations Council for Namibia, the legal administerity authority for the Territory for the last 20 years--was 126 in favour to none against, with 24 abstentions. (Those abstaining were: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Grenada, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States).

The special session, convened oneday after the opening of the regular forty-first General Assembly, held seven meetings at which 90 speakers gave their views on the Namibian question. The Assembly on 13 December 1985, in resolution 40/97 F, had decided to convene such a session, expressing grave concern that South Africa continued illegally to occupy Namibia, in violation of United Nations resolutions and decisions.

Last year, the General Assembly, inadopting resolution 40/97 C, authorized the convening in 1986 of the International Conference for the Immediate Independence of Namibia, (7-11 July, Vienna). It adopted a Programme of Action and Declaration calling for immediate implementation of the independence plan and imposition of comprehensive sanctions, and affirming the legitimacy of the struggle of Namibians by every means at their disposal, including armed struggle, and invited the Assembly at its special session to consider and adopt effective action to secure Namibian independence (see story, p. 21).

An 'attitude of duplicity': "SouthAfrica's attitude towards the United Nations in respect of Namibia's liberation has been characterized, at every turn, by contempt, duplicity, bad faith and intransigence", Humayun Rasheed Choudhury told the special session. Mr. Choudhury, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and newly-elected President of the forty-first Assembly, was elected by acclamation as President of the special session.

More recently, the proclamation ofa so-called "interim government" in Namibia had demonstrated that South Africa was determined to subvert and bypass the United Nations and to institute its own process of change in the Territory, calculated to ensure its continuing domination of the Territory.

"The agony and travail of this unfortunatepeople continues", he said. "The situation has reached a point which the international community can no longer tolerate." He appealed to all concerned to co-operate in a constructive manner to end "this intolerable situation".

The convening of the special session,Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar told delegates, was "another expression of the broad commitment of the United Nations to support the demand of the Namibian people for freedom and independence" and reflected "a mounting sense of urgency about working out a just and peaceful settlement" of the question.

There must be, he said, "imemdiateand tangible progress towards the goal of justice and human dignity for all if peace and stability are to be restored to southern Africa".

"Good intentions, pious hopes orringing words of condemnation cannot suffice to overcome the intransigence of Pretoria, which will only honour the resolutions and decisions of the United Nations if it is subjected to effective means of pressure", said Antoine Ndinga Oba, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation of Congo, on behalf of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Africa, he said, was determined topursue efforts towards establishing without delay "the most favourable conditions for the eradication of apartheid, the major political challenge to Africa at the present time, in order to permit the setting up of a democratic, egalitarian and non-racial society in South Africa and to hasten the independence of Namibia".

"Regrettably, Namibia is still notfree", said Theo Ben Gurirab, Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). "The agony and injustice of colonial occupation continues unabated." The "politics of eternal postponement" of Namibia's independence and the introduction of the linkage pre-condition "continue to hold our independence to ransom and cause untold suffering to our people, whose only demand is freedom".

No 'linkage': Under the special sessionresolution, South Africa was called upon to desist from linking Namibian independence to "irrelevant and extraneous issues such as the presence of Cuban troops in Angola", as such linkage was incompatible with the relevant United Nations resolutions, particularly resolution 435. The Assembly strongly rejected the policies of "constructive engagement" and "linkage", which had served to encourage South Africa to continue its illegal occupation of Namibia, and called for their abandonment.

Member States were called upon togive SWAPO, "the sole and authentic representative of the Namibian people", increased and sustained support and material, financial, military and other assistance to enable it to intensify its struggle for Namibia's liberation. The Assembly upheld "the legitimacy of the struggle of the Namibian people by every means at their disposal, including armed struggle, to repel South Africa's aggression and to achieve self-determination, freedom and independence in a united Namibia".

South Africa was strongly condemnedfor its continued illegal occupation of Namibia and its "persistent refusal" to comply with General Assembly and Security Council resolutions and decisions, and for installing "the so-called interim government" in Namibia in June 1985. The Assembly rejected as illegal, null and void "all such fraudulent constitutional and political schemes" by which South Africa attempted to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Namibia.

The Assembly emphasized that theonly parties to the conflict in Namibia were the Namibian people represented by SWAPO and "the racist regime of South Africa". The international community was called upon to urgently extend "all support and assistance" to the front-line States (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe) to enable them to defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity against South Africa's "repeated acts of aggression".

Those States that had no done sowere strongly urged to cease forthwith all dealings with South Africa. the Assembly condemned "the plunder" by South Africa and other foreign economic interests of Namibia's natural resources. The United Nations Council for Namibia--the legal Administering Authority for the Territory until independence--was called upon to take "immediate practical measures" to establish its Administration in Namibia.

Separate votes: Prior to the vote onthe text as a whole, the Assembly, in two separate recorded votes, removed specific references in the text to the United States--concerning the policy of linkage between Namibia's independence and the presence of Cuban troops in Angola, and the policy of "constructive engagement" with South Africa.

President Choudhury had ruled thaton important matters, in application of special rule F of annex III of the Assembly's provisional rules of procedure and in accordance with Article 18, paragraph 2 of the United Nations Charter, decisions "shall be taken by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting". The ruling was applied, and the required two-thirds majority was not attained in the votes.

Two other special sessions have beendevoted to Namibia--one in 1967 (when it was referred to as...