Baker Arrives in Namibia for Nation’s Birthday Party

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, claiming that Namibian independence is “a product of American diplomacy,” arrived here Monday for ceremonies marking the birth of a new nation and the end of colonial rule in Africa.

Talking to reporters aboard his Air Force transport on the 19-hour flight from Washington, Baker conceded that American support for Namibian independence was greater in the years before it was won than it will be in the immediate future.

The Bush Administration has allocated only $500,000 in aid to the sparsely populated country during the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

“We’d like to be able to do more, and we’re going to be scratching around to see what we can do there,” Baker said in reference to the aid total.

“We think the independence of this last colony, or territory, in Africa is a product of American diplomacy and (that) makes it important that we have high-level representation at the independence ceremony,” he said.

The U.S. delegation includes Chester A. Crocker, the top State Department African expert in the Reagan Administration, who served as mediator in almost eight years of talks that led to South Africa’s agreement to end almost 70 years of control of the largely desert region once known as South-West Africa.

Before going to Windhoek’s stadium to watch the Namibian flag replace the South African banner at the stroke of midnight, Baker plans a full day of talks today, including a meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze that may set the date for the next summit meeting between President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Washington in June.

Baker also plans to meet today with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process, although U.S. officials concede that no progress is possible until Israel selects a new government to replace the regime of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir that was brought down last week.

Baker plans to confer in Windhoek with Nelson R. Mandela, the African National Congress leader who was recently freed after almost 30 years in South African prisons. But the secretary of state made it clear that he has very little to offer Mandela.

Baker has already agreed to visit South Africa on Thursday for meetings with President Frederik W. de Klerk, despite Mandela’s call for the United States to continue its diplomatic boycott until Pretoria dismantles the apartheid system of racial segregation.

Baker also indicated that Washington has no plans to provide direct financial support to the ANC. Instead, he said, the National Endowment for Democracy, a government-funded but privately managed foundation, might help to finance non-racial elections if the South African government ever agrees to hold them.