This brief report describes recent problems that held up implementation of the Western-sponsored UN plan for Namibian independence, whose success depends on the degree of political will and determination on the part of the contending parties. Future events in Namibia depends to a large degree on the front-line states, as well as on the West and especially the United Nations, and on South Africa, where there is negative pressures on the government based on mistrust of SWAPO and the UN and doubts about the Western Powers. It should be possible to find a negotiated way out of the present impasse, but the political will to reach a compromise settlement appears to be weakening on all sides.
