Ahtisaari Vows to Remain Impartial : Finn Playing Key Role in Namibia’s Transition

For more than a decade, Martti Ahtisaari has had one of the United Nations’ most frustrating assignments--to bring the sparsely populated territory of Namibia to independence against the wishes of its colonial governor, South Africa.

When the 51-year-old Finnish diplomat and his wife arrived here Friday, it marked the end of those difficult years and the beginning of Namibia’s journey “to its rightful place among the community of nations,” Ahtisaari said.

“It is good to be once more in Namibia,” Ahtisaari told a news conference. “I have no illusions about the difficulties that may lie ahead. But the secretary general of the United Nations and I are dedicated to implementing self-determination here with absolute impartiality.”

Ahtisaari has been U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar’s special representative to Namibia since the U.N. Security Council passed a 1978 resolution calling for free and fair elections in the territory, which has been ruled by South Africa for 74 years.

He began his career in Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1965 and, for three years in the 1970s, was Finland’s ambassador to Tanzania. In 1977 he became the U.N. commissioner for Namibia and added the title of special representative for Namibia in 1978.

The job has presented one of the most difficult, and, some thought, insurmountable challenges in African diplomacy.

For years, South Africa claimed that the United Nations was not neutral because it had declared the guerrilla group, the South-West Africa People’s Organization, the true representative of Namibia’s people. Then the Pretoria government refused to budge from Namibia, claiming that Cuba’s presence in Angola periled South Africa’s security. In 1984, with little movement in Namibia’s quest for independence, Ahtisaari rejoined the Finnish Foreign Ministry, while maintaining his U.N. job.

But last year, the U.S.-mediated talks among Cuba, Angola and South Africa produced a major breakthrough for Namibia. With the December agreement to withdraw Cubans from Angola and South Africans from Namibia, Ahtisaari made plans to move here and oversee Namibia’s first one-person, one-vote elections.

A few mostly white Namibians have expressed concern about U.N. impartiality here. A sign in the crowd that greeted the diplomat on Friday read: “Ahtisaari--Are You Neutral?”

Ahtisaari said he knew there were some doubters.

“But people will have to take me for my word and see how the process goes forward,” he said.