1.
SV President Paul John Fermino Lusaka speaking about Kassinga
0.38

2.
GV OF Assembly.
0.42

3.
SV Lusaka asking for minute of silence.
0.56

4.
SV & PAN Assembly rising for minute of silence.
1.14

5.
SV SWAPO observer Theo-Ben-Guriab speaks.
2.10


LUSAKA: "At our meeting today, in accordance with General Assembly Resolution thirty-three stroke one eighty-two C (33/182 C) of twenty-one December, nineteen seventy-eight, is to proclaim nineteen hundred and seventy-nine, in International year of Solidarity with the people of Namibia. This date, the fourth of May was chosen for its symbolic significance, as the first anniversary of the Kassinga massacre, in which South African troops committed atrocities against defenceless Namibia refugees at Kassinga, in Angola. Before we start, may I ask you all to rise and observe a minute of silence, in memory of victims of South African brutality at Kassinga, and all our fallen heros of the liberation of Namibia."



THEO-BEN-GURIAB: "The present behaviour and utterances from Pretoria clearly indicate that negotiations are out, and what the situation calls for now, and what is one the agenda now, is action. Therefore we believe that the forthcoming meetings of the General Assembly, (we presume they will be Security Council Meetings), therefore the Security Council Meetings should be occasions for deciding the adoption of appropriate and effective measures, such as economic sanctions and other actions under Chapter Seven of the UN Chapter. It would drive the illegal administration of Pretoria under... out of Namibia. This is what would bring about the long awaited genuine independence of Namibia."




Initials JS/


TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed an International Year of Solidarity with the people of Namibia (South West Africa). A U.N. plan devised by representatives of five countries, Great Britain, France, the U.S.A., West Germany and Canada, called for the dispatch of a U.N. army along with one thousand civilian officials to supervise new elections in Namibia. However, the South African government claims that the plan deviated from what South Africa has previously agreed. Although the Pretoria government has not closed the door on the proposal, the hopes of reviving the plan are reportedly dim. Paul John Fermino Lusaka, President of the Council of Namibia, at a meeting of the General Assembly spoke for those who died at Kassinga during an attack which South Africa said was aimed at SWAPO (South West African Union) guerillas and Cuban instructors.

SYNOPSIS: The General Assembly decided to reconvene on May the twenty-third to resume the debate, after Mr. Theo-Ben-Guriab, the UN Permanent Observer for the South West African people's Organisation (SWAPO) and others spoke.