§ 22. Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress is being made with the arrangements, including the use of United Nations forces, to terminate the illegal occupation of Namibia by South Africa.
§ Dr. OwenTogether with other Ministers of the Five I held talks in New York on 19 and 20 March with the Foreign Minister of South Africa and with representatives of the front-line States, Nigeria and SWAPO. The Five also met representatives of all the internal parties of Namibia. We had detailed discussions covering the arrangements necessary to ensure the effective observance of a cease-fire and the maintenance of peaceful conditions in which UN-supervised elections can take place.
The principal outstanding issues remain that of monitoring the restriction to base of SWAPO forces in countries neighbouring Namibia, and how to deal with those SWAPO-armed personnel inside 594W Namibia at the time of the ceasefire. In order to establish the confidence between the parties that will enable a cease-fire to come into force, detailed work on the exact procedures to be followed in implementing the Five's proposal is now being undertaken. The possible use of technical monitoring devices is one of the measures currently being examined in discussions with all concerned in New York in the hope that confidence can be built up and the Secretary-General can exchange cease-fire letters with the parties. It is too early to be confident of success but the future of Southern Africa could be greatly influenced by the outcome. I and other Ministers of the Five are ready to return to New York for further discussions should this be necessary.