Diplomacy Wins

As the West sells a peace plan

Prospects brightened abruptly last week for a speedy end to the hostilities that have long festered in the mineral-rich territory of Namibia (South West Africa), nestled along the African continent's Atlantic coast between Angola and South Africa. After meetings in the Angolan capital of Luanda, militant Namibian nationalists of the South-West African People's Organization (SWAPO) agreed to go along with a peacemaking formula drawn up by five Western powers. The plan calls for ending the twelve-year-old guerrilla war in the territory by having the United Nations supervise progress toward independence, to be attained by the end of the year. If all goes according to schedule, South Africa's administration of the territory--an arrangement that dates from 1919 and has been in defiance of a U.N. ruling since 1966--will end simultaneously.

The agreement was a diplomatic victory for the West. U.S. Ambassador Donald F. McHenry, who is assigned to the U.N. and is chairman of the Western group,* gave full credit for the success of the Western approach to U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, who conceived the Namibian strategy early last year. McHenry has been shuttling between New York and seven African capitals for the past 15 months in an effort to persuade leaders of the so-called Front Line States (Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Botswana) to talk SWAPO Leader Sam Nujoma into buying the plan. Angolan officials were particularly anxious for a resolution of the conflict. Their southern border area is scattered with Namibian refugee camps and SWAPO guerrilla bases; last May South Africa peppered the area with a series of bombing attacks in an attempt to wipe out the main guerrilla base.

Under the plan, a U.N. peacekeeping force of 5,000 troops and a U.N. "transition assistance group" (dubbed Untag) of about 1,000 civilians will help set up the machinery of independence. A special U.N. representative will work with an administrator-general, who will be charged with overseeing the repeal of discriminatory and restrictive laws, the release of political prisoners, and the repatriation of Namibian refugees from Angola.

South Africa is called upon to phase down its troop presence of 15,000 to a token force of 1,500 over the next three months. These remaining forces will be withdrawn after elections, to be held later this year. At the same time, SWAPO has agreed that its armed forces will cease "all hostile acts." The agreement fails to resolve the issue of Walvis Bay, the deepwater harbor in Namibia that South Africa has been anxious to keep. Presumably, it will be the subject of further negotiations.

The Western plan had been accepted by South Africa in April. Last week South African Foreign Minister R.F. ("Pik") Botha cautiously called SWAPO's acceptance a development that "could herald a new era in southern Africa." Some South African officials, however, remain skeptical about whether SWAPO guerrillas are genuinely prepared to enter into peaceable rivalry with Namibia's only other major political force, the moderate, white-aligned Democratic Turnhalle Alliance.

The plan now goes to the U.N. Security Council for formal approval, probably late next week. Though the Western powers would have preferred immediate action to forestall an incident that could upset the fragile agreement, it was decided to wait until after the Organization of African Unity summit this week, when the continent's leaders are expected to give it their blessing.

*Which, besides the U.S., includes Canada, Britain, France and West Germany.

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