125. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance to President Carter1

[Omitted here is material unrelated to Namibia.]

3. Namibia: South Africa Rejects Contact Group Proposals.2 South Africa today advised the Contact Group that our clarifications of Waldheim’s February 26 report were insufficient to overcome their “major objections.3” The note also stated that it had agreed to a request by the Namibian “Constituent Assembly” to establish a “National Assembly” in the territory, which will have the power to repeal existing legislation but not to initiate new laws. Its major function will supposedly be to dismantle the structure of apartheid. The South African note claims that this action does not change the status of Namibia and reiterates the SAG’s readiness to implement the “original” Contact Group Proposal. The South Africans advised us that their note will be published tomorrow. We anticipate that there will be immediate African demands for Security Council action against South Africa and a meeting before the end of this week is a distinct possibility. The Contact Group will be working on a common approach, with the position of the new UK Government, the major question mark.

[Omitted here is material unrelated to Namibia.]

  1. Source: Carter Library, Plains File, Subject File, Box 39, State Department Evening Reports, 5/79. Secret. Carter initialed the memorandum and wrote on the top of the first page: “Cy.”
  2. See footnote 6, Document 124.
  3. In telegram 1083 from Cape Town, May 7, the Embassy transmitted the South African Government’s reply to the March 26 letter. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790207–0142)