geonet@uunet.uu.net (08/25/89)
/* Written 12:02 am Jul 18, 1989 by gn:geonet in cdp:reg.safrica */ /* ---------- "SWAPO PRESS CONFERENCE" ---------- */ NAMIBIA: SWAPO ENCOURAGES HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS TO PROBE ALLEGATIONS ON DETAINEES Windhoek, 23 Aug.89 (NAMPA) -- SWAPO today encouraged reputable international human rights organizations to visit Angola and Zambia to investigate what it describe as false allegations that there were still people held in detention by SWAPO. SWAPO reiterated that all detainees had been released to the Angolan Government. The suggestion that Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UNTAG and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) be the investigating bodies in Angola and Zambia was made by Foreign Affairs Secretary Theo-Ben Gurirab and Information Secretary Hidipo Hamutenya at a press conference at the SWAPO Election Directorate in Windhoek. Gurirab and Hamutenya said that the human rights organizations should approach the Angola and Zambia with the aim of visiting the two countries, possibly with some ex-detainees, to pinpoint places where SWAPO was allegedly still holding detainees. They reiterated that SWAPO had "long released every one of those accused of espionage" and called on those who continue with "speculations" to provide concrete names. Noting that there was now an opportunity to resolve the issue, the two leaders urged the media to stop speculation and invited them instead to join the group of investigators. The SWAPO officials responded to questions on the registration process, and said that statements that 80 per cent of eligible voters have already registered were "a myth, a cover-up not to address the question of intimidation". They described the pace of registration in northern Namibia as disappointing and said SWAPO had names of people who have not yet been able to register and that it would compile and release a list shortly. Gurirab and Hamutenya also revealed that up to 5,000 potential voters in the northern Namibian district of Oshigambo alone were registered last Monday only after SWAPO had raised the issue with registration officers. They restated SWAPO's "extreme worry" about the continuing and worsening intimidation during the election campaign particularly by DTA elements. They said elements of the "disbanded" South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) were being recruited and deployed as DTA campaigners, adding that they had been responsible for much of the intimidation. The SWAPO leaders noted that a young girl had been shot with an arrow on Monday while on Tuesday a SWAPO member in northern Namibia had been shot with a pistol Gurirab and Hamutenya called on the DTA to cease its intimidation campaign and they expressed appreciation that no case of intimidation had been initiated or carried out by SWAPO members and supporters despite extreme provocations. Gurirab and Hamutenya urged the South African Administrator-General, as the person responsible for law and order during Namibia's transitional period, to "exert pressure on the police and the agents of intimidation" in order to ensure a clean campaign. Asked whether SWAPO would regard the election as rigged if the Organization failed to gain two-thirds of the votes, Gurirab and Hamutenya indicated that SWAPO remained confident of gaining the two-thirds majority and " even better". They noted, however, that the question of the two-thirds majority had been blown out of proportion, saying that it only applied to the adoption of the constitution. Stating that SWAPO would seek the views of other members of the Constituent Assembly on all matters, they stressed that SWAPO had never sought to adopt the independence constitution single-handedly. "There would be no arbitrary imposition of SWAPO ideas without due regard to other opinions", they said. (NAMPA) KVT/ MW --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-