NEWS

Namibian Elections
by Susan Alder [The Christian. Observer]
E
lection day in Namibia could
bring chaos to the African nation
as the communist-backed
SW APO attempts to reduce the country
to their one-party iule.
Namibia is about the size of Texas
and has a population of.just over a
million people. The country borders on
Angola and South Africa. Those borders
were established in the late 1800's at
the Congress of Berlin which doled
Africa out among the colonial powers.
Namibia--known as South West Africa
until 1972--became a German colony.
In 1920, the League of Nations awarded
Namibia to South Africa as a "Class C"
mandate. South Africa has administered
Namibia from that time until April 1,
1989.
On April 1, the govenunent of Nam-
ibia came under the dual management of
an Administrator General who repre-
sents the people of Namibia and a
special representative of the United
Nations. After November 6, the country
will be governed by a parliament which
will write a constitution for independent
Namibia.
The Owambo Nation is Namibia's
most predominate tribal grouping, com-
prising about 50% of the population. In
1959, the Owambo Nation formed a
political party called the Owathbo
People's Organization. Later, in an
attempt to disguise the party's tribal
nature, the party changed its name to
South West Africa's People's Organiza-
tion - SW APO - for short.
Morgan Norval, Executive Director
of the Selous Foundation in Washing-
ton, DC says, "The fact of life in Africa
is tribalism. Tribal loyalties are voted
first before anything else. Since the
Owarnbo's comprise about 50% of the
people, it's pretty reasonable to assume
SWAPO will win the election. Now
the big question is whether they. will
win it by such a majority that they will
be able to write the new constitution as
they see flt"
The problem with this type of
democratic majority according to Mr.
Norval is that SW APO is a Soviet
sponsored insurgency. If SW APO wins
the November 6 election with a 2/3
majority, Mr. Norval says, "They've
made no secret of the fact that they
intend to impose a Marxist-Leninist
one-party state. Namibia would like to
be an independent country. The fly in
the ointment, and they have caused
nothing but trouble, is the United
Nations. They have recognized SW APO
as the sole and authentic representative
of the Namibian people. They have
spent over a billion dollars on SW APO
throughout the years."
In addition to the UN support--30%
of which comes from the American
taxpayers--SW APO also receives for-
eign aid from Russia and the Scandina-
vian countries, primarily Sweden and
Finland. According to Mr. Norval,
America also supports SW APO with
money given by the National Council
of ChUIChes.
The election in November will not
be the frrst elections the N amibians
have had in an effort to govern them-
selves. According to Mr. Norval the
Namibians had elections in 1975 and in
1978 which the United Nations refuses
to recognize. The Namibians estab-
lished a multi-party parliament Only
10 of the 65 members of this parlia-
ment are white. Mr. Norval says, "They
have a Bill of Rights that they admit
they have freely adopted from ours
which protects individual rights as well
as preserving the cultural and ethnic en-
tities that a lot of people over there
cherish."
Currently, the United Nations has
troops in Namibia. Mr. Norval says,
"The United Nations presence in
Namibia is costing at least 116 million
dollars of which America is paying
30%. And ~ UN presence is totally
useless. About all they're doing is
riding around buying Mercedes. I think
The Counsel of Chalcedon December, 1989 page 8
the average pay is something around
$2000 a month, plus $75 to $150 as
per diem expense. All they are doing is
driving prices up wherever they are. In
some instances, some of the UN
members are actually bending over to
be nice to the SW APO. President Bush
must certify that this election is going
well and that there's no skullduggery
before he can release payments to the
United Nations."
If the United Nations-backed, com-
munist-backed, American-financed,
SW APO wins the 2/3 majority in the
election and writes the constitution of
Namibia, the question arises as to
whether or not SW APO can enforce its
new Marxist-Leninist rule without
outside help. On the other hand, if
SW APO fails to caplllre the 2/3 majori-
ty, the question arises as to whether
SW APO will continue to work within
the multi-party government or take
violent action to overthrow the multi-
party government with our continued
help and the help of other outside
forces.
(Susan Alder, a free-lance writer, lives,
with her husband, George, in BlacKSburg,
Virginia.) Q
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