Settlement Proposal - Background

Background

In 1978, the United Nations Security Council agreed to the basic principle of a UN-assisted Namibian independence process. But disputes remained over which group would determine Namibia's independence. Internationally, the division over Namibia was between, on the one hand, South Africa, Namibia's 'internal parties', the Western Contact Group (WCG), and on the other, SWAPO, the United Nations General Assembly, the Non-Aligned States in the Security Council, and the Frontline States (Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe - since its independence in 1980 - and Nigeria).

The UN Secretariat's UNTAG mission was supposed to be impartial even though both South Africa and SWAPO accused UNTAG of favouring the other side. (The General Assembly supported SWAPO financially for many years, including the construction of the United Nations Institute for Namibia in Zambia, which was set up to train Namibian exiles and refugees.

Read more about this topic:  Settlement Proposal

Famous quotes containing the word background:

    Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.
    Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)

    In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.
    Emma Goldman (1869–1940)