Editing Namibia (section)

===Independence===

As SWAPO's insurgency intensified, South Africa's case for annexation in the international community continued to decline.<ref name=Dobell>{{cite book|last=Dobell|first=Lauren|title=Swapo's Struggle for Namibia, 1960–1991: War by Other Means|year=1998|pages=27–39|publisher=P. Schlettwein Publishing Switzerland|location=Basel|isbn=978-3908193029}}</ref> The UN declared that South Africa had failed in its obligations to ensure the moral and material well-being of South West Africa's indigenous inhabitants, and had thus disavowed its own mandate.<ref name=Yusuf>{{cite book|last=Yusuf|first=Abdulqawi|title=African Yearbook of International Law, Volume I|year=1994|pages=16–34|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|location=The Hague|isbn=978-0-7923-2718-9}}</ref> On 12 June 1968, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming that, in accordance with the desires of its people, South West Africa be renamed ''Namibia''.<ref name=Yusuf/> [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 269]], adopted in August 1969, declared South Africa's continued occupation of Namibia illegal.<ref name=Yusuf/><ref name="MAA">{{cite book|last=Peter|first=Abbott|author2=Helmoed-Romer Heitman|author3=Paul Hannon|title=Modern African Wars (3): South-West Africa|pages=5–13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9Aj997IO9gC|isbn=978-1-85532-122-9|year=1991|publisher=Osprey Publishing}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In recognition of this landmark decision, SWAPO's armed wing was renamed the [[People's Liberation Army of Namibia]] (PLAN).<ref name=Camp>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Christian|title=National Liberation in Postcolonial Southern Africa: A Historical Ethnography of SWAPO's Exile Camps|date=October 2015|pages=73–89|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1107099340}}</ref>

Namibia became one of several flashpoints for [[Cold War]] proxy conflicts in southern Africa during the latter years of the PLAN insurgency.<ref name=Hughes>{{cite book|last=Hughes|first=Geraint|title=My Enemy's Enemy: Proxy Warfare in International Politics|year=2014|pages=73–86|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|location=Brighton|isbn=978-1845196271}}</ref> The insurgents sought out weapons and sent recruits to the Soviet Union for military training.<ref name="Betram">{{cite book|last=Bertram|first=Christoph|title=Prospects of Soviet Power in the 1980s|year=1980|pages=51–54|publisher=Palgrave Books|location=Basingstoke|isbn=978-1349052592}}</ref> As the PLAN war effort gained momentum, the Soviet Union and other sympathetic states such as Cuba continued to increase their support, deploying advisers to train the insurgents directly as well as supplying more weapons and ammunition.<ref name=Vanneman>{{cite book|last=Vanneman|first=Peter|title=Soviet Strategy in Southern Africa: Gorbachev's Pragmatic Approach|url=https://archive.org/details/sovietstrategyin00vann|url-access=registration|year=1990|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sovietstrategyin00vann/page/41 41–57]|publisher=Hoover Institution Press|location=Stanford|isbn=978-0817989026}}</ref> SWAPO's leadership, dependent on Soviet, Angolan, and Cuban military aid, positioned the movement firmly within the socialist bloc by 1975.<ref name="Dreyer">{{cite book|title=Namibia and Southern Africa: Regional Dynamics of Decolonization, 1945–90|last=Dreyer|first=Ronald|location=London|publisher=Kegan Paul International|year=1994|isbn=978-0710304711|pages=73–87, 100–116, 192}}</ref> This practical alliance reinforced the external perception of SWAPO as a Soviet proxy, which dominated Cold War rhetoric in South Africa and the United States.<ref name="Devils"/> For its part, the Soviet Union supported SWAPO partly because it viewed South Africa as a regional Western ally.<ref name=Shultz>{{cite book|last=Shultz|first=Richard|title=Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare: Principles, Practices, and Regional Comparisons|url=https://archive.org/details/sovietunionrevo00shul/page/121|url-access=registration|year=1988|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sovietunionrevo00shul/page/121 121–123, 140–145]|publisher=Hoover Institution Press|location=Stanford, California|isbn=978-0817987114}}</ref> 
[[File:SADF-Operations 4.jpg|thumb|left|South African troops patrol the border region for PLAN insurgents, 1980s]]
Growing war weariness and the reduction of tensions between the superpowers compelled South Africa, Angola, and Cuba to accede to the [[Tripartite Accord (Angola)|Tripartite Accord]], under pressure from both the Soviet Union and the United States.<ref name=SACP>{{cite book|last1=Sechaba|first1=Tsepo|last2=Ellis|first2=Stephen|title=Comrades Against Apartheid: The ANC & the South African Communist Party in Exile|year=1992|pages=184–187|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|isbn=978-0253210623}}</ref> South Africa accepted Namibian independence in exchange for Cuban military withdrawal from the region and an Angolan commitment to cease all aid to PLAN.<ref name="James">{{cite book|title=A Political History of the Civil War in Angola: 1974–1990|last=James III|first=W. Martin|location=New Brunswick|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=2011|orig-date=1992|isbn=978-1-4128-1506-2|pages=207–214, 239–245}}</ref> PLAN and South Africa adopted an informal ceasefire in August 1988, and a [[United Nations Transition Assistance Group]] (UNTAG) was formed to monitor the Namibian peace process and supervise the return of refugees.<ref name="Sitkowski">{{cite book|last=Sitkowski|first=Andrzej|title=UN peacekeeping: myth and reality|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport, Connecticut|year=2006|pages=80–86|isbn=978-0-275-99214-9}}</ref> The ceasefire was broken after PLAN made a final incursion into the territory, possibly as a result of misunderstanding UNTAG's directives, in March 1989.<ref name="Clairborne">{{cite news|title=SWAPO Incursion into Namibia Seen as Major Blunder by Nujoma|last=Clairborne|first=John|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/04/07/swapo-incursion-into-namibia-seen-as-major-blunder-by-nujoma/7182b414-2fd3-4036-b3f8-be9debd58840/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|location=Washington DC|date=7 April 1989|access-date=18 February 2018|archive-date=29 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429092224/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/04/07/swapo-incursion-into-namibia-seen-as-major-blunder-by-nujoma/7182b414-2fd3-4036-b3f8-be9debd58840/|url-status=live}}</ref> A new ceasefire was later imposed with the condition that the insurgents were to be confined to their external bases in Angola until they could be disarmed and demobilised by UNTAG.<ref name="Sitkowski"/><ref name=Demob>{{cite book|last1=Colletta|first1=Nat|last2=Kostner|first2=Markus|last3=Wiederhofer|first3=Indo|title=Case Studies of War-To-Peace Transition: The Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants in Ethiopia, Namibia, and Uganda|year=1996|pages=127–142|publisher=[[World Bank]]|location=Washington DC|isbn=978-0821336748}}</ref>

By the end of the 11-month transition period, the last South African troops had been withdrawn from Namibia, all political prisoners granted amnesty, racially discriminatory legislation repealed, and 42,000 Namibian refugees returned to their homes.<ref name="Dreyer"/> Just over 97% of eligible voters participated in the country's first [[Namibian parliamentary election, 1989|parliamentary elections]] held under a [[universal franchise]].<ref name="NYT1989">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/15/world/namibia-rebel-group-wins-vote-but-it-falls-short-of-full-control.html|title=Namibia Rebel Group Wins Vote, But It Falls Short of Full Control|work=The New York Times|date=15 November 1989|access-date=20 June 2014|archive-date=27 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027123928/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/15/world/namibia-rebel-group-wins-vote-but-it-falls-short-of-full-control.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The United Nations plan included oversight by [[Election monitoring|foreign election observers]] in an effort to ensure a [[Election#Non-democratic elections|free and fair election]]. SWAPO won a plurality of seats in the [[Members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia|Constituent Assembly]] with 57% of the popular vote.<ref name="NYT1989"/> This gave the party 41 seats, but not a two-thirds majority, which would have enabled it to draft the constitution on its own.<ref name="NYT1989"/>

The Namibian Constitution was adopted in February 1990. It incorporated protection for human rights and compensation for state expropriations of private property and established an independent judiciary, legislature, and an executive presidency (the constituent assembly became the national assembly). The country officially became independent on 21 March 1990.<ref>[https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/namibia-gains-independence Namibia gains Independence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211142900/https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/namibia-gains-independence |date=11 February 2023 }} – South African History Online</ref><ref name="finnish-mission"/> [[Sam Nujoma]] was sworn in as the first [[President of Namibia]] at a ceremony attended by [[Nelson Mandela]] of South Africa (who had been released from prison the previous month) and representatives from 147 countries, including 20 heads of state.<ref>{{cite web|last=Dierks|first=Klaus|author-link=Klaus Dierks|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/132.htm|title=7. The Period after Namibian Independence|publisher=Klausdierks.com|access-date=21 August 2020|archive-date=23 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523021428/http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/132.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1994, shortly before the first multiracial elections in South Africa, that country ceded Walvis Bay to Namibia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Treaty between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of Namibia with respect to Walvis Bay and the off-shore Islands, 28 February 1994|url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/ZAF-NAM1994OI.PDF|publisher=United Nations|access-date=29 June 2017|archive-date=19 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519121348/https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/ZAF-NAM1994OI.PDF|url-status=live}}</ref>