Western Contact Group

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The Western Contact Group (WCG), representing three of the five permanent members of the

apartheid of South Africa.[1]

International diplomacy

The Western Contact Group's efforts led to the presentation in 1978 of

UN Commissioner for Namibia, Martti Ahtisaari
. It called for the holding of elections in Namibia under UN supervision and control, the cessation of all hostile acts by all parties, and restrictions on the activities of South African and Namibian military, paramilitary, and police.

Although South Africa had agreed to cooperate in achieving the implementation of Resolution 435, it unilaterally held elections in Namibia which were boycotted by SWAPO and a few other political parties. South Africa continued to administer Namibia through its installed multiracial coalitions and an appointed Administrator-General. Negotiations after 1978 focused on issues such as supervision of elections connected with the implementation of the settlement proposal.

The Western Contact Group was the first International Contact Group and an example for later ad-hoc formed informal forms of diplomatic crisis management.[2]

Conditional agreement

Another decade passed until South Africa signed the

New York Accords agreeing to grant independence to Namibia, but on condition that Cuban troops were withdrawn from neighbouring Angola and that Soviet military aid to Angola should cease.[3]

Namibia finally achieved its independence on March 21, 1990.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-928768-0
    . Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  2. S2CID 231875749
    .
  3. ^ "Tripartite Agreement: Angola, Cuba and South Africa". United States Institute of Peace. Archived from the original on 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
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