STATEMENT TO PARLIAMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER
ON NAMIBIA
6 MARCH 1989
Madam Speaker,
I seek to leave to report to the House on recent events in
Namibia and Australia's role in assisting the implementation
of UN Security Council Resolution 435 of 1978, providing for
the withdrawal of South African military forces from Namibia
and the holding of elections under UN supervision and
control
As announced by the Ministers for Defence and Foreign
Affairs and Trade on 2 March 1989, a contingent of three
hundred Australian engineers will leave shortly for Namibia.
They will form part of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force
in Namibia that will help bring independence to Namibia
after more than one hundred years of rule by foreign powers.
The settlement of the long and complex issue of Namibian
independence is an important international event. It is an
event in which Australia has played, and will continue to
play, a substantial part.
During my recent visit to India, I noted that there had been
much talk during the 1970s and early 1980s about an arc of
instability stretching from southern Africa, through the
Persian Gulf, through Afghanistan and South Asia and on to
Indochina. We see now, if not an arc of peace, than at
least an arc of peace-making. It is a process, facilitated
by an improvement in superpower relations and aided by the
constructive role of the United Nations, that is finally
bringing the treasured goal of independence within sight of
the people of Namibia.
My Government recognises that the problems in southern
Africa constitute one of the major challenges facing the
international community. We have sought, through the United
Nations, the Commonwealth and our own diplomatic links with
countries in the region, to find peaceful solutions to the
complex set of problems that trouble that region.
In recent times, there has been little cause for optimism in
southern Africa. The offensive doctrine of apartheid
remains entrenched in South Africa's social, political and
economic life. Civil wars with drastic human consequences
continue in Mozambique and Angola. The Front Line States of
southern Africa including fellow Commonwealth members such
as Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe continue to be
vulnerable to economic and military destabilisation. The
question of Namibia, in many ways, encapsulated a number of
these problems.
2.
The fact that Namibia is now on the way to independence
demonstrates that concerted international action, the
determination of the region, and the goodwill of individual
players can combine to bring solutions to longstanding
problems in the region. For a southern Africa torn by
attrition, deprivation and tragedy, recent moves on Namibia
offer a glimmer of hope.
The problem of Namibia has been with the international
community for close on 70 Years. South Africa was appointed
mandatary over the former German colony of South West Africa
by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, in circumstances
similar to Australia's own mandate over Papua New Guinea.
This mandate was confirmed by the League of Nations.
After the Second World War, the League of Nations was
superseded by the United Nations, and the mandate system by
the trusteeship system. Alone of the former mandatary
powers, South Africa refused to submit a trusteeship
agreement for South West Africa, or Namibia, as it is now
known. In 1966, the UN General Assembly resolved that South
Africa's role in Namibia should be terminated, and that the
responsibility for the territory should be assumed by a
UN-appointed Council for Namibia. Despite these decisions,
South Africa continued to govern Namibia against the wishes
of the United Nations, and claimed sovereignty over it in
the face of widespread international condemnation.
South African rule has been opposed from within Namibia
since 1957 by the South West African People's Organisation,
SWAPO. SWAPO commenced an armed struggle in 1966, and was
supported in this by Namibia's neighbour to the north,
Angola, when it achieved independence in 1975.
South Africa responded by supporting an insurgency against
the Government of Angola, and by direct attacks against
Angolan Government forces inside Angola. Angola sought
Cuban involvement and as many as 50,000 Cuban troops have
been deployed there at any one time. This involvement, with
substantial Soviet backing, became a significant source of
East-West tension.
It has taken years to begin to untangle this mess. In 1978
the UN agreed on a plan for a settlement contained in UN
Security Council Resolution 435, but intransigence on all
sides prevented that plan from being implemented. Then last
year, in the context of reduced East-West tensions, the
log-jam started to break up. South Africa agreed to
withdraw its forces and to allow Namibia its independence,
while Angola agreed to the withdrawal of Cuban forces and
the removal of African National Congress camps from its
territory. The signing of the Brazzaville Protocol on 22
December last year by South Africa, Cuba and Angola has at
last formalised the acceptance by South Africa of the 1978
UN settlement plan. D q
Last month the UN Security Council agreed that the
transition to independence for Namibia would begin on
1 April 1989. Over the 12 months from that date the UN will
monitor the withdrawal of foreign forces, oversee the
drafting and adoption of a Constitution, and supervise the
installation of a new Government after general elections.
A vital element in this plan is the United Nations
Transition Assistance Group, UNTAG. It will monitor the
ceasefire and troop withdrawals, supervise elections, and
support the maintenance of law and order in Namibia until
the new government of independent Namibia is ready to take
over. The scale of these tasks is reflected in the size of the
force. UNTAG will have civilian, police and military
elements. The military element will consist initially of
4,650 personnel including three infantry battalions, with
scope for expansion to 7,500 should the circumstances
demand.
Australia is providing the engineering component of UNTAG.
our contingent of 23 officers and 277 other ranks will
provide engineering and construction support to the UN
effort. Such support will be sorely needed. Namibia is a
large, arid, sparsely-populated and underdeveloped country
which has been a war zone for many years. our engineers
will build roads, bridges, airstrips and camps for UNTAG.
They will have the very serious task of clearing mines which
have been laid by the various contending forces along the
border between Angola and Namibia.
This is of course not the first time Australian personnel
have been involved with a peacekeeping force in Africa; we
participated in the Commonwealth force that monitored
Zimbabwe's transition to independence in 1980. In that
process, as in others before and since, Australian defence
forces played a constructive role in what can be a difficult
and sometimes dangerous process.
Members of the Australian contingent will serve in Namibia
for tours of six months, after which they will be replaced
by a fresh contingent from Australia. The UN plans to
complete Namibia's transition to independence within a year,
but delays in this complex process are possible, and we may
be called upon to stay longer than a year.
The bulk of the Australian contingent will be based at
Grootfontein in the north of Namibia, near the border with
Angola. Elements of the contingent could be required to
deploy into neighbouring countries to support UNTAG
operations there.
This is a very large and important commitment for Australia,
comprising almost half of the Army's construction
engineering capability. Careful planning, including the use
of Reservists, has been required to ensure that
high-priority engineering tasks closer to home can still be
performed.
I am pleased to say that it has been possible to minimise
the impact of the deployment on support to the operational
deployment force, exercise Kangaroo 89, and the defence
cooperation program in the South Pacific, where our
engineers build wharves, airstrips and other essential
infrastructure. It has to be understood that the political and military
situation in the border region where the bulk of our men
will be deployed will remain uncertain and outbreaks of
fighting cannot be ruled out. members of the Australian
contingent will travel often on minor and remote roads.
They will be responsible for the dangerous work of clearing
mines throughout the country. Threats are also posed by
disease and the harsh environment.
Against these dangers should be set the fact that our
service personnel are experts in their profession; they are
well trained and will be armed for self-defence.
I can assure Honourable Members that the safety of the
Australian contingent is uppermost in my mind. To ensure
that we are kept fully informed of developments that may
affect the well-being of the Australian contingent, the
Government has decided to establish a temporary Australian
Liaison office in the Namibian capital of Windhoek for the
duration of the 12 month independence process. The Office
will provide the Government with first hand reporting on
political and military developments in the territory, during
what at times is likely to be a difficult process. The
Office will be headed by an experienced diplomat with many
years background in African affairs.
The Government has also ensured that members of the
Australian contingent be adequately compensated for the
hardships and dangers they will face through a comprehensive
and generous set of conditions of service, including the
payment of special allowances. In addition, the Treasurer
will be seeking an amendment to the Income Tax Assessment
Act to exempt the pay and allowances earned by Defence Force
personnel while they are on tour with UNTAG. Repatriation
benefits appropriate to the tasks and hazards encountered
will also be provided.
madam Speaker, our contribution to UNTAG and our involvement
in the Namibian settlement makes Australia party to what may
be one of the United Nations' most substantial achievements
for many years. we have been involved in this process from
the start. Australia has been a member of the UN Council
for Namibia since 1974. we pledged our support for UNTAG at
the inception of the UN plan for Namibia in 1978. Australia
also made an important contribution to UN deliberations
about Namibia during our recent term on the UN Security
Council in 1985-86.
Our participation in UNTAG also builds on the constructive
role successive Australian Governments have played on
southern African issues. I pay particular tribute to the
achievements of my predecessor Malcolm Fraser in this
regard. Our decisive contribution to the attainment of
independence by Zimbabwe, Australia's leading role in the
Commonwealth on southern Africa affairs, our bilateral aid
support for the member countries of the Southern African
Development Co-ordination Conference all speak of a firm
commitment to peace and stability in that region. Our
involvement in the Eminent Person's Group was only one
demonstration of our longstanding determination to work
constructively to bring about an end to the repugnant
policies of apartheid.
I believe that the Namibian settlement, together with the
resolution of the Iran-Iraq war and the end of Soviet
military intervention in Afghanistan, marks a renewal of
faith in the UN as an effective participant in international
affairs after many years of cynicism and apathy about its
role. The UN belongs on the centre stage of world affairs,
not in the wings, and it is very encouraging that more and
more countries are recognising this. I take this
opportunity to pay tribute to the efforts of Martti
Ahtisaari, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative
on Namibia, for his important role, and those of the late
Bernt Carlsson, the UN Commissioner for Namibia, who was
tragically killed in the Lockerbie air disaster.
I would like to think that Namibia's transition to
independence will proceed to plan and that there will be no
major setbacks. But such things are never certain. Our
effort in Namibia will be the largest peacekeeping
commitment in which this country has ever participated. It
may also be the most difficult. I am sure that all
Honourable Members of this House, and the people of
Australia join me in wishing our troops well in their
endeavours. We do so in the knowledge that they will make
an outstanding contribution to the future peace and
prosperity of an independent Namibian people and a more
stable region.