CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
AUSTRALIA'S CONTINGENT TO NAMIBIA
HOLSWORTHY 5 APRIL 1989
Next week you will be in Namibia a country taking, with
your help, its first steps towards independence. As members
of 17 Construction Squadron, you will be joining the advance
contingent of 94 Australians already in Namibia.
Southern Africa has been a focus of instability and conflict
for many years. It has been and remains a region that bears
the burdens of civil war, poverty, and the obscenity of
apartheid. One of the oldest disputes in this region
indeed one that finds its very origins in the settlement of
the First World War has been the question of independence
for Namibia. It is this matter that now stands on the
threshold of resolution under the guidance of the United
Nations. As members of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group
( UNTAG) you will be making an important contribution to
transforming Namibia from a war zone to a peace zone, from a
colony to a sovereign state.
UNTAG's mission is to monitor the ceasfire and troop
withdrawals, to preserve law and order in Namibia and to
supervise elections for the new Government of Namibia.
This will not be an easy process. Since the Transition
Period in Namibia began on 1 April, there have already been
serious clashes between members of SWAPO on one hand and
elements of the Namibian police and the South African
Defence Forces on the other.
The clashes have been serious and bloody. More than two
hundred people have been killed. The situation is still
tense and serious.
The Australian Government is concerned at the breakdown of
the ceasefire at this delicate and early stage of the
Transition Period.
It is particularly regrettable that these clashes have
occurred at a time when the UN does not have its three
infantry battalions deployed, and does not have sufficient
personnel in place to monitor all aspects of the transition
arrangements. 1
But all of this only highlights the importance and
sensitivity of your task. As members of the military
component of UNTAG, you will have to work hard to keep the
UN plan on track. We are under no illusions about the risks
and dangers of your task.
From your base in Grootfontein in Northern Namibia, you will
provide important engineering and construction support to
the UN effort. Such support will be sorely needed. Namibia
is a large, arid, sparsely-populated and underdeveloped
country, wracked for years by the destruction of war. You
will have to build roads, bridges, airstrips and camps for
UNTAG. You will also have the dangerous task of clearing
mines which have been laid by the various contending forces
along the border between Angola and Namibia.
In performing these tasks, you will be continuing the proud
tradition established by the Australian Defence Forces in
similar difficult circumstances in the past. Australians
have served with honour and distinction in UN Peacekeeping
Forces in Asia, Europe, the Indian sub-continent and in the
middle East. In Africa, we participated in the Commonwealth
force that monitored Zimbabwe's transition to independence
in 1980.
Your involvement in the UNTAG process will see you
contributing to what may be one of the United Nations, most
substantial achievement for many years. Certainly, you and
the advance members of your party already in Namibia
represent the largest contribution to a peacekeeping force
that Australia has ever made.
I note with gratitude that the opposition parties in Federal
Parliament, represented here today by the Leader of the
Opposition, have expressed their full support for the
decision to despatch this force.
The Government has taken special measures to provide you
with a comprehensive and generous set of conditions of
service, including the payment of special allowances and tax
exemptions, in recognition of your difficult task. It is
some compensation at least to you and your families for the
burden of separation that you will bear while deployed in
Namibia. The eyes of the world will be on you. The thoughts and the
best wishes of all Australians will be with you.
As Prime Minister I express my deepest hopes for your
success on your six month tour of duty and for your safe
return. I do so in the knowledge that you will make an
outstanding contribution to the future peace and prosperity
of an independent Namibian people. I do so in the knowledge
that you will do all Australians proud.