US BEGINS NEW ROUND OF NEGOTIATIONS ON NAMIBIAN INDEPENDENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000707040042-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2011
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: January 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/20 :CIA-RDP90-009658000707040042-1
~Nrt+~.~.~-~---- CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
10 January 1986
STAT
US begins new round of negohah s
on Namibian independence
By Louis YVimitzer
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Paris
Diplomatic efforts to gain independence for Namibia
seem to be back to Square 1. But some analysts see a
glimmer of hope in the apparent political strengthening.
of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, whose
agreement is essential to any independence settlement.
Mr. dos Santos seems more inclined toward a compro-
mise agreement on Namibia (South West Africa) than
other members of his government. His position was ap-
parently strengthened at the recent congress of his ruling
Popular Liberation Movement of Angola (MPLA-.
The United States is resuming its push for a Namibia
agreement. Chester Crocker, the US assistant secretary
of state, arrived in Angola Wednesday for talks on
Namibia. For four years, Mr. Crocker has been trying to
get Angola to send 30, 000 Cuban troops home; m ex-
change, South Africa would withdraw from Namibia and
permit UN-supervised elections to take place. South Af-
ricaadministers Namibia in defiance of the UN.
But thus far, Crocker's initiative has, in the words of a
West European diplomat, "failed miserably." The
Reagan administration says there has been progress.
In his earlier talks, Crocker had persuaded the
Angolans to accept a linkage between Namibian indepen-
dence and the departure of Cuban troops from Angola.
Slowly the gap between the South African and
Angolan positions narrowed. Angola offered to send its
estimated 25,000 Cubans home over a period of three
years, keeping 5,000 Cubans around the capital. Pretoria
unless Mr. Savimbi was made co-lead- search for Namibia settlement
er of Angola, it would continue to pro-
vide him with aid.
Cabinda. Pretoria said the comman-
doswere gat-Tierin mom- nce data.
-T~esprte Sou 'ca s action, dos
Santos agreed to continue talks both
with the US and with South Africa.
But in a meeting last November,
Crocker added a new condition, link-
ing Namibian independence to the es-
tablishment of a reconciliation regime
in Angola that would include Jonas
Savimbi, whose insurgents (the Na-
tional Union for the Total Indepen-
dence of Angola, or UNITA) are wag-
ing civil war against the Angolan
government. According to a senior
Angolan diplomat, the US said that,
demanded that all Cubans leave within six months.
There was room for further compromise. But last
May, when atop-secret meeting between So;.th African
President P. W. Botha and Angolan President dos
Santos was about to take place, South African comman-
dos were captured trying to sabotage American-owned
oil installations in the northern Angolan province of
The US Congress has lifted its ban on such aid, and in
a speech last fall President Reagan for the first time in-
cluded Savimbi's insurgent group among the "freedom
fighters" which "the United States felt morally obligated
to support." Savimbi is expected in Washington later
this month where he will meet with high administration
officials and key senators.
US Secretary of State George Shu;iz has delayed pro-
viding covert aic~to~~in~e' ope t os antos
wo Ted a r a new rn.23 w e ,one go an e
ereFi~a is ~tac~a Tia~>z:kan'-"
ngo a ias eel; a e toaeal severe blows to UNITA
in recent months. Savimbi had been
put on the defensive and South Africa
felt a need to intervene late last year.
Pretoria wanted to create a situation
that would freeze diplomatic efforts
and allow South Africa to move its
forces back into Angola to bail out
Savimbi, according to a West Euro-
pean diplomat recently stationed in
Luanda. Pretoria, however, said it
went into Angola in pursuit of
SWAPO guerrillas.
At the recent party congress, dos
Santos filled the Central Committee
with personal supportErs (by enlarging
it from 57 to 90 seats. Though he pro-
fesses to be Marxist, he has spoken
out against dogmatism and in favor of
"pragmatism." He dismissed several pro-Soviet
hardliners.
"All domestic obstacles to a negotiated settlement
have now been removed and dos Santos has a free hand
to work out a compromise solution with South Africa,"
says one African pro-Western source.
Chester Crocker in Angela renews
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/20 :CIA-RDP90-009658000707040042-1