The tenth anniversary of UN Resolution 435 for Namibian independence on 29 September was greeted with rallies and demonstrations in various parts of Namibia, but implementation of the plan was further delayed during October and November as a result of South African objections.
Continuing negotiations over 435 involving Angola, South Africa, Cuba and the United States, which had by July 1988 led to a South African commitment to withdraw from Angola and allow Namibian independence, resulted in an agreement in mid-November on a timetable for the process. Pretoria had further delayed the implementation of 435 - scheduled for 1 November - by insisting on the prior and parallel withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola. Although details of the agreed terms were not initially made public, they were believed to involve a phased withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola over a period of about two and a half years.
The Angolan and Cuban negotiators expressed optimism over the agreement, but the South African delegation was more cautious. The South African Foreign Minister declared that there were still 'serious and complex issues' to be resolved, and later, after the South African regime had formally endorsed the terms, he raised new questions of procedure. As a result, the tentative implementation date of 1 January 1989 was put back even further.
There are many issues which Pretoria could raise to delay the plan. These include questions of verification of troop withdrawals, South African and US military support for UNITA, and financial issues, for example whether South Africa would continue to fund its administration in Namibia during the implementation of 435. There are also unresolved aspects of 435 itself, including the status of Walvis Bay, which is claimed by South Africa, and the role of South African-controlled police and military units such as the South West Africa Police and its counter-insurgency unit Koevoet, and the South West Africa Territory Force.
The principles of the agreement prohibit aggression and the use of force, but Pretoria has not committed itself to stop supporting UNITA, which has been carrying out widespread attacks in Angola with South African backing. In early November, General Malan, the South African Minister of Defence, declared that Pretoria was 'honour-bound' to assist UNITA, adding that he saw UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi regularly. 'We will not summarily turn our backs on UNITA', said Malan, 'one does not treat a good friend like that.' Similarly, after a visit by Savimbi to Pretoria at the end of November, the South African Foreign Minister refused to say whether support for UNITA would end.
In October the Angolans reported 'a certain resistance' by the South African Defence Force to setting up ceasefire monitoring posts along the Namibia-Angola border in the Caprivi area: UNITA is supplied through the South African bases in the western Caprivi. The SADF also continued a military build-up in northern Namibia, and by the end of November there were no signs of preparations for a military withdrawal from the territory.
Despite Pretoria's unpromising posture, SWAPO said in a statement that it subscribed 'to the perspective of guarded optimism'. This assessment was based on a belief that the apartheid regime had been compelled by the unfavourable balance of forces in the region after its military defeat in Angola in 1988 to change its position regarding Namibian independence.
From 8 to 10 October, a major consultation was held by SWAPO with other Namibian organisations and business and professional people in Kabwe, Zambia. About 170 delegates, including doctors, academics, lawyers, representatives of the business community, traditional leaders, trade unionists, students, church leaders and delegates from political groups met with SWAPO leaders, including President Sam Nujoma. SWAPO presented its views on the independence talks and its political and economic programme for an independent Namibia, stressing its aim of uniting the Namibian people. Three SWAPO officials based in Namibia were prevented from attending the conference by the authorities, who refused to issue them with travel documents.
In Windhoek, SWAPO and church organisations held meetings on 29 September to mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption by the UN Security Council of Resolution 435. A demonstration by about 100 students outside the offices of the South African Administrator-General was broken up by armed police, who attacked the crowd with whips and batons.
A SWAPO rally in Rundu in the far north-east of Namibia, which is under martial-law type restrictions, was also attacked by police and soldiers. Crowds were assaulted with whips and teargassed, and armoured vehicles surrounded the meeting. Police attempted to drown out the speakers by playing loud music while a helicopter hovered overhead. Troops at roadblocks around Rundu turned back SWAPO supporters arriving from outlying areas, or delayed them for hours by subjecting them to searches and forcing them to remove the wheels of vehicles, ostensibly to look for explosives hidden there. After the meeting, a SWAPO barbecue at a private home was surrounded by troops in armoured vehicles. The soldiers aimed machine guns at the guests and sounded attack sirens.
On 1 November, provisionally set as the date for the implementation of 435, there were further demonstrations. In Tsumbeid and Grootfontein, in the north, there was a work stay-away and school boycott, and there were reports of demonstrations and marches in Outjo, Otavi, Otjiwarongo and Grootfontein. Marchers in Grootfontein were attacked by police with teargas, whips and dogs. They retaliated by throwing stones. Army reinforcements were brought in with rubber bullets and teargas - one soldier was beaten by the crowd. In Windhoek, there was a strong police and army presence as hundreds of people gathered in the streets, and riot police were deployed in Katutura township.
Forces opposed to the implementation of 435 in Namibia also attempted to mobilise support and to undercut the provisions of the UN plan. The South African Administrator-General, while declaring his support for 435, made suggestions in a number of speeches that elections to some of the apartheid authorities in the territory might still be held. By-elections for two vacant seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Administration for Whites provided an opportunity for right-wing parties to mobilise white resistance to Namibian independence, and the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Weerstand Bewegung held rallies.
