Peacekeepers and S. Africans Are Poles Apart at Border : U.N. Raises Flag in Namibia; Rebels Slow to Seek Refuge

The U.N. peacekeepers had just stepped down from their trucks in remote bushland on the Namibian border here Tuesday when they had their first run-in with South African troops--over where to put up the blue-and-white U.N. flag.

The South Africans had constructed a sturdy flagpole, next to their own flag, for the banner marking the opening of a U.N. assembly point for South-West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) rebels seeking refuge and safe passage back into Angola.

But Australian army Sgt. Dave Sinai, of the U.N. contingent, was worried that the guerrillas would shy away if the U.N. flag were flying too close to the South African bunkers. So the U.N. flag was hoisted in the highest branches of a dead tree a short walk away.

“The colonel was very upset that we didn’t use his flagpole,” Sgt. Sinai said with a shrug. ‘But this whole thing is a trust game. And SWAPO may be afraid to come to us if we’re too close to South African bases.”

Across northern Namibia on Tuesday, the United Nations opened nine gathering places like this one in a sandy clearing only 150 yards from the border with Angola. The U.N. goal is to restore peace in the territory and resurrect the Namibian independence process, which was jeopardized as it began April 1 when hundreds of SWAPO insurgents crossed into Namibia. That invasion touched off 10 days of fighting and a death toll of more than 250 rebels and 27 members of South African-led security forces.

By Tuesday, the fighting had ended, and roads that carried fast-moving military convoys only a few days ago were mostly quiet. Both SWAPO President Sam Nujoma and representatives of South Africa, Angola and Cuba, architects of the Namibian peace plan, had called for an end to the warfare and the return of SWAPO fighters to their bases in Angola. They will be allowed into Namibia legally, without their weapons, in mid-May under Namibia’s U.N.-monitored independence plan.

No One Reports In

In the first hours of the informal truce Tuesday, not one SWAPO insurgent had reported to the U.N. assembly points, a U.N. spokesman said. It may be several days before the rebels begin to report to the U.N. troops, and many may also return to Angola on their own.

“As soon as they see white faces around, they will be suspicious and hesitant,” said Oole Eriksson, a Lutheran missionary in Oniipa. “People might turn around and say, ‘This is a trap by South Africa.’ They will watch and find out if it’s really safe.”

The United Nations is broadcasting appeals to the rebels in local languages, but SWAPO spokesmen have said their soldiers remain confused about the procedure.

“We are giving them the opportunity. That’s all we can do,” said Sgt. Sinai at the new U.N. post in Oshikango, about 360 miles north of the capital, Windhoek.

South Africa, which will control this territory until the U.N.-supervised November elections, has said it wants to verify the SWAPO departure and make sure that the rebels do not leave arms caches behind. Pretoria says there will be no cease-fire in Namibia, and no return to bases for its troops, until it is satisfied that the insurgents are confined to bases about 150 miles inside Angola, as called for under the transition plan.

The U.N. assembly point here consists of a green tent and a long table with three chairs made of stacked sandbags. A beacon light, perched on a small tower, will mark the spot at night, when the U.N. flag is not visible.

“We don’t want them blundering into your position late at night,” Sinai told one South African officer.

Lt. Col. J. J. Hougaard, commander of South African troops in northern Namibia, said his orders are to leave SWAPO alone around the U.N. assembly points.

“If we find SWAPO tracks going north (toward Angola) or within (three miles) of any monitoring point, our orders are to leave them alone,” Hougaard said. “If we find tracks going south, we are to approach the SWAPO elements, speak to them and try to convince them to go back.” He said his troops, and Namibian forces led by his men, would fire only if fired on.

S. African Troops Reduced

The South African Defense Force has reduced its troop strength around the U.N. monitoring posts in the war zone, Hougaard said. About 45 South African soldiers are stationed near Oshikango’s monitoring post.

The U.N. base here, which will remain open up to a week, is manned by five Australian soldiers, five British soldiers and five Pakistani monitors, all wearing U.N. blue berets. They were sitting in the shade Tuesday, cleaning their American-made M-16 rifles and writing letters home.

If SWAPO members surrender themselves here, they will be allowed to rest for an hour or so and then be escorted past South African troops and barbed-wire checkpoints across the border, where they will be met by Angolan troops.

The U.N. assembly points were set up primarily along a 200-mile stretch of the border east and west of here, where most of the heavy fighting occurred. Delays in the arrival of U.N. troops have left the U.N. Transition Assistance Group undermanned. Only about a fourth of the 4,650 U.N. troops are already in Namibia, and many of them have been rushed to the border to work at the assembly points.

The Australians in Oshikango, for example, were brought to Namibia as engineers. But they were pressed into service as infantrymen because of the manpower shortage.

After their early disagreement over the flag, relations between the newly arrived U.N. troops and the veteran South Africans improved through the afternoon Tuesday.

“I don’t believe we’ll have any problems with them,” Hougaard, the South African commander, said. “We are soldiers. They are soldiers. We have our orders. They have theirs.”

But their missions here in the Namibian bush still set them apart.

“Are you going home soon, sir?” Sinai, the U.N. sergeant, asked a South African lieutenant.

“Not for a long time,” the lieutenant replied.