HISTORY
The San
are generally assumed to have been the earliest inhabitants of
the region. Later inhabitants include the Nama and the Damara
or Berg Dama. The Bantu-speaking Ovambo and Herero migrated from
the north in about the 14th century A.D.
The inhospitable
Namib Desert constituted a formidable barrier to European exploration
until the late 18th century, when successions of travelers, traders,
hunters, and missionaries explored the area. In 1878, the United
Kingdom annexed Walvis Bay on behalf of Cape Colony, and the area
was incorporated into the Cape of Good Hope in 1884. In 1883,
a German trader, Adolf Luderitz, claimed the rest of the coastal
region after negotiations with a local chief. Negotiations between
the United Kingdom and Germany resulted in Germany's annexation
of the coastal region, excluding Walvis Bay. The following year,
the United Kingdom recognized the hinterland up to 20 degrees
east longitude as a German sphere of influence. A region later
known as the Caprivi Strip became a part of South West Africa
after an agreement on July 1, 1890, between the United Kingdom
and Germany. The British recognized that the strip would fall
under German administration to provide access to the Zambezi River
and German colonies in East Africa. In exchange, the British received
the islands of Zanzibar and Heligoland.
German
colonial power was consolidated, and prime grazing land passed
to white control as a result of the Herero and Nama wars of 1904-08.
German administration ended during World War I following South
African occupation in 1915.
On December
17, 1920, South Africa undertook administration of South West
Africa under the terms of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League
of Nations and a mandate agreement by the League Council. The
mandate agreement gave South Africa full power of administration
and legislation over the territory. It required that South Africa
promote the material and moral well-being and social progress
of the people.
When the
League of Nations was dissolved in 1946, the newly formed United
Nations inherited its supervisory authority for the territory.
South Africa refused UN requests to place the territory under
a trusteeship agreement. During the 1960s, as the European powers
granted independence to their colonies and trust territories in
Africa, pressure mounted on South Africa to do so in Namibia,
which was then known as South West Africa. In 1966, the UN General
Assembly revoked South Africa's mandate.
Also in
1966, the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) began
its armed struggle to liberate Namibia, in part from bases abroad.
After Angola became independent in 1975, SWAPO established bases
in the southern part of that country. Hostilities intensified
over the years, particularly in the north.
In a 1971
advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice upheld UN
authority over Namibia, determining that the South African presence
in Namibia was illegal and that South Africa therefore was obligated
to withdraw its administration from Namibia immediately. The Court
also advised UN member states to refrain from implying legal recognition
or assistance to the South African presence.
International
Pressure for Independence
In 1977, Western members of the UN Security Council, including
Canada, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom,
and the United States (known as the Western Contact Group), launched
a joint diplomatic effort to bring an internationally acceptable
transition to independence for Namibia. Their efforts led to the
presentation in April 1978 of Security Council Resolution 435
for settling the Namibian problem. The proposal, known as the
UN Plan, was worked out after lengthy consultations with South
Africa, the front-line states (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe), SWAPO, UN officials, and the Western Contact
Group. It called for the holding of elections in Namibia under
UN supervision and control, the cessation of all hostile acts
by all parties, and restrictions on the activities of South African
and Namibian military, paramilitary, and police.
South
Africa agreed to cooperate in achieving the implementation of
Resolution 435. Nonetheless, in December 1978, in defiance of
the UN proposal, it unilaterally held elections in Namibia which
were boycotted by SWAPO and a few other political parties. South
Africa continued to administer Namibia through its installed multiracial
coalitions. Negotiations after 1978 focused on issues such as
supervision of elections connected with the implementation of
the UN Plan.
Negotiations
and Transition
Intense discussions between the concerned parties continued during
the 1978-88 period, with the UN Secretary General's Special Representative,
Martti Ahtisaari, playing a key role. The 1982 Constitutional
Principles, agreed upon by the front-line states, SWAPO, and the
Western Contact Group created the framework for Namibia's democratic
constitution.
In May
1988, a U.S. mediation team, headed by Assistant Secretary of
State for African Affairs Chester A. Crocker, brought negotiators
from Angola, Cuba, and South Africa, and observers from the Soviet
Union together in London. Intense diplomatic maneuvering characterized
the next 7 months, as the parties worked out agreements to bring
peace to the region and make implementation of UN Security Council
Resolution 435 possible. On December 13, Cuba, South Africa, and
the People's Republic of Angola agreed to a total Cuban troop
withdrawal from Angola. The protocol also established a Joint
Commission, consisting of the parties with the United States and
the Soviet Union as observers, to oversee implementation of the
accords. A bilateral agreement between Cuba and the People's Republic
of Angola was signed in New York on December 22, 1988. On the
same day a tripartite agreement, in which the parties recommended
initiation of the UN Plan on April 1 and the Republic of South
Africa agreed to withdraw its troops, was signed. Implementation
of Resolution 435 officially began on April 1, 1989, when South
African-appointed Administrator Gen. Louis Pienaar officially
began administrating the territory's transition to independence.
Special Representative Martti Ahtisaari arrived in Windhoek to
begin performing his duties as head of the UN Transition Assistance
Group (UNTAG).
The transition
got off to a shaky start on April 1 because, in contravention
to SWAPO President Sam Nujoma's written assurances to the UN Secretary
General to abide by a cease-fire and repatriate only unarmed insurgents,
about 2,000 armed members of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia
(PLAN), SWAPO's military wing, crossed the border from Angola
in an apparent attempt to establish a military presence in northern
Namibia. The Special Representative authorized a limited contingent
of South African troops to aid the South West African police in
restoring order. A period of intense fighting followed, during
which 375 PLAN fighters were killed. At Mt. Etjo, a game park
outside Windhoek, in a special meeting of the Joint Commission
on April 9, a plan was put in place to confine the South African
forces to base and return PLAN elements to Angola. While the problem
was solved, minor disturbances in the north continued throughout
the transition period. In October, under order of the UN Security
Council, Pretoria demobilized members of the disbanded counterinsurgency
unit, Koevoet (Afrikaans for "crowbar"), who had been
incorporated into the South West African police.
The 11-month
transition period went relatively smoothly. Political prisoners
were granted amnesty, discriminatory legislation was repealed,
South Africa withdrew all its forces from Namibia, and some 42,000
refugees returned safely and voluntarily under the auspices of
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Almost
98% of registered voters turned out to elect members of the Constituent
Assembly. The elections were held in November 1989 and were certified
as free and fair by the Special Representative, with SWAPO taking
57% of the vote, just short of the two-thirds necessary to have
a free hand in drafting the constitution. The Democratic Turnhalle
Alliance, the opposition party, received 29% of the vote. The
Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on November 21 and
its first act unanimously resolved to use the 1982 Constitutional
Principles as the framework for Namibia's new constitution.
By February
9, 1990, the Constituent Assembly had drafted and adopted a constitution.
March 21, independence day, was attended by Secretary of State
James A. Baker III, who represented President George H.W. Bush.
On that same day, he inaugurated the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek
in recognition of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
On March
1, 1994, the coastal enclave of Walvis Bay and 12 offshore islands
were transferred to Namibia by South Africa. This followed 3 years
of bilateral negotiations between the two governments and the
establishment of a transitional Joint Administrative Authority
(JAA) in November 1992 to administer the 300-square mile territory.
The peaceful resolution of this territorial dispute, which dated
back to 1878, was praised by the United States and the international
community, as it fulfilled the provisions of UN Security Council
432 (1978) which declared Walvis Bay to be an integral part of
Namibia.
