Joint Press Statement on Namibia

Joint Press Statement

The Third Regular Meeting of the Joint Commission established in terms of the Brazzaville Protocol of 13 December 1988, took place in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa from 27 to 28 April 1989.

Delegations of the Peoples’ Republic of Angola, the Republic of Cuba and the Republic of South Africa, the members of the Joint Commission, as well as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, as observers, attended the meeting.

During the course of the discussions it was decided to invite the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Namibia, the Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs and the Military Commander of UNTAG to attend the ­meeting. A similar invitation was extended to the Administrator General of the Territory. The Joint Commission considered that the presence of these officials would facilitate its work.

The Joint Commission gave specific attention in its deliberations to the situation in the northern area of Namibia and in southern Angola since 31 March 1989 and subsequent developments. The decisions taken by the Joint Commission at its First and Second Extraordinary Meetings, held at Mount Etjo, Namibia, on 8 and 9 April 1989 and at Ruacana, Namibia, on 20 April 1989, respectively, were also reviewed.

The Joint Commission decided on further practical measures to ensure, as agreed at Mount Etjo, the restoration of the situation in existence on 31 March 1989 at the earliest opportunity. In this regard, agreement was reached that, following the completion of the restriction of the security forces to base for a period of 60 hours, a process of verification as called for by the Mount Etjo Declaration and lasting 14 days until 06h00 on 13 May 1989 will be conducted. On this date, the confinement of all SWAPO forces in Angola to bases north of the 16th parallel under UNTAG monitoring, will have been completed, South African forces will resume restriction to base and implementation of Security Council Resolution 435/78 will continue as originally scheduled.

The Commission will meet at Ruacana on 15 May 1989 to consider the situation.

As far as the frequency of its subsequent meetings is concerned, the Joint Commission decided to amend its Regulations and Rules of Procedure to allow for future meetings of the Commission take place on a bi-monthly basis.

The delegations expressed their appreciation to the South African Government for the excellent facilities provided for the Meeting.

CAPE TOWN

28 APRIL 1989