Namibia (Hansard, 18 November 1981)

§ 7. Mr. Hooley
asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will make a statement on the progress of the negotiations of the contact group on independence for Namibia.

§ 9. Mr. Wilkinson
asked the Lord Privy Seal what contacts he has made with the Governments of the United States of America, Canada, Germany and France, the internal political parties in Namibia and the Governments of neighbouring countries towards facilitating the holding of free and fair elections in South-West Africa and the acceptance of a democratic constitution.

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Richard Luce)
A team of senior officials from the Western Five has recently visited African capitals to present to the Governments and parties concerned a set of constitutional principles as suggested guidelines for the constituent Assembly to be elected under the United Nations plan. Initial reactions to the tour and the Five's proposals were generally encouraging.

§ Mr. Hooley
What evidence do the Government have that South Africa is negotiating in good faith, since it repudiated in January an agreement that it had previously concluded? What action will the Western powers take to bring to an end the barbaric atrocities that the South African forces are committing in South Angola?

§ Mr. Luce
First, we have already seen from the past few weeks' negotiations that have been led by the five members of the contact group that there is a desire on behalf of all the parties to renew discussions on the basis of the United Nations' resolution. As I said, those discussions are proceeding. There has been some progress on the stage that we are discussing, which concerns constitutional principles. Secondly, we condemn violence from all sides, and we recently condemned the incursions of South Africans into Angola.

§ Mr. Wilkinson
What action are the Government taking, with the other Western powers, to put pressure on the United Nations to change its extraordinary attitude that SWAPO represents the sole authentic voice of the peoples of South-West Africa? Is my hon. Friend aware that until the United Nation's position is changed the South Africans will not regard the organisation as being a fair arbiter of electoral processes?

§ Mr. Luce
The Government have constantly condemned the resolution stating that SWAPO should be the sole and authentic representative, because that is contrary to the principle of holding free elections. There is anxiety that it should be demonstrated that the electoral process will be impartial. Therefore the impartiality of the process is a matter to be discussed by the negotiating team in the forthcoming few weeks.

§ Mr. Radice
Has SWAPO commented on the proposals? What attitude has been taken by the front-line States, particularly Zimbabwe? What inducements are likely to be offered to the South African Government by the United States to prevent their scuttling the proposals, as they did the previous lot?

§ Mr. Luce
The contact group has completed its tour of the various capitals and also of Namibia and South Africa. We await the comments and suggestions arising from the first set of proposals on the constitutional principles that we put forward. That will take a little time. When we have them, we hope to finalise our proposals on the constitutional principles and move to the next stage.
What was the hon. Gentleman's second question?

§ Mr. Radice
The front-line States.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. That was enough to get on with.

§ Mr. Colvin
Will my hon. Friend accept that a prerequisite for the free and fair elections that must take place in Namibia before independence would be a great deal easier to achieve if there were a fully impartial peacekeeping force? Might that not in turn be easier to achieve if the troops involved wore their national uniforms rather than the uniform of the United Nations, as that organisation has shown a certain partiality to one party in this matter, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Wilkinson) explained?

§ Mr. Luce
It is important to distinguish between the United Nations' record in peacekeeping, such as its role today in the Lebanon and in other countries, where, on the whole, it has performed a magnificent task, and resolutions of Me General Assembly, some of which have been most unhelpful to the attempt to make progress on a peaceful settlement in Namibia. It was with that in mind, when replying to my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Wilkinson), that I said that the implications of some of the resolutions will need to be examined as part of the negotiating process.

§ Mr. Ioan Evans
In view of South Africa's continued illegal occupation of Namibia, should not the United Nations set a date for it to leave that territory and hand it over to the people of that territory?

§ Mr. Luce
Following the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Five on 24 September it was agreed that our objective would be to start the process of implementation in 1982. Because the plan allows for seven months of transition, it is expected that it could be completed in 1983. That remains our objective.