United Nations Namibia

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe called for tougher economic sanctions on South Africa and urged the United Nations to increase the strength of its peacekeeping force for Namibia. Mugabe told the eight-nation Commonwealth Committee on South Africa, meeting to seek ways to increase external pressure on Pretoria, that the international campaign for sanctions must be intensified.

Namibia joined the United Nations on Monday as its 160th member state and promised, as a small nation, to do "do our little bit" toward maintaining world peace. The admission of the former German colony, ruled by South Africa for the past 75 years, coincided with the opening of a five-day special session of the General Assembly called to seek ways to lift the burden of poverty and a $1.3-trillion debt from the developing world.

The U.N. Security Council gave unanimous approval to an independence plan designed to free Namibia from 74 years of South African rule, and it dispatched the first U.N. peacekeepers to the region. "The decision . . . marks the last major step toward decolonization," said Ambassador Jal Pratap Rana of Nepal, Security Council president for February. "We look forward to welcoming Namibia as a fellow member of this family of nations before long."

Tens of thousands of Namibians took to the streets Wednesday in a riot of pomp, color and pageantry to celebrate their nation's independence. The world's newest nation, which became the 160th member of the United Nations, launched a massive street party to mark the end of colonial domination, first by imperial Germany and since 1915 by neighboring South Africa. President Sam Nujoma and his Cabinet were installed by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

The General Assembly on Wednesday approved $416 million for the U.N. peacekeeping mission to help free Namibia from 74 years of South African rule. On April 1, the United Nations is to begin implementing a one-year plan to create the world's newest independent nation, thus settling the last major colonial problem in Africa. South Africa has run Namibia, or South-West Africa, since World War I, when it captured the former German colony.

When Chester A. Crocker began the delicate task of selling his peace plan for southwestern Africa nearly eight years ago, he remembers plenty of resistance in African capitals. "There was a lot of broken furniture in the room during the first 18 months," said the 46-year-old assistant secretary of state. The notion of linking a Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola with independence for Angola's South African-controlled neighbor, Namibia, wasn't all that popular with any of the principal players.

The South African-appointed government of Namibia declared the U.N. timetable for the territory's independence effectively suspended Friday, citing a week of fierce border clashes between guerrillas and security forces that killed more than 280 people. Officials said more paramilitary troops had been activated to guard against reported guerrilla movements on farmland owned by whites. They said a curfew would be reimposed on the northern Ovambo region where the fighting erupted.

South Africa threatened Saturday to expel a large U.N. peacekeeping force on its first day of work in Namibia after charging that guerrillas entering from Angola had clashed with Namibian police as a formal cease-fire went into effect, leaving 38 insurgents and two police officers dead. Roelof F. (Pik) Botha, South Africa's foreign minister, called the clash a "flagrant violation" of international agreements. He said that if the U.N.

South African allegations that Namibian guerrillas were illegally moving into northern Namibia from Angola were based on phony U.N. messages, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Namibia said. Pretoria had said the alleged incursions threatened to disrupt next week's elections that are a step toward independence from South Africa.

As Namibia ended four decades of Pretoria-imposed apartheid and white colonial rule Wednesday, South Africans watched closely what many think could be a dress rehearsal for their own country's impending march away from racial segregation and black oppression.

South African allegations that Namibian guerrillas were illegally moving into northern Namibia from Angola were based on phony U.N. messages, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Namibia said. Pretoria had said the alleged incursions threatened to disrupt next week's elections that are a step toward independence from South Africa.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution criticizing South Africa for failing to fully cooperate with U.N. monitors overseeing the independence plan for Namibia. South Africa insists that it is complying with the one-year U.N. plan to end its 74-year rule of Namibia. The resolution demands the disbanding of a notorious paramilitary police unit called Koevoet, and it demands that all parties, "particularly South Africa," comply with the plan.

The South African-appointed government of Namibia declared the U.N. timetable for the territory's independence effectively suspended Friday, citing a week of fierce border clashes between guerrillas and security forces that killed more than 280 people. Officials said more paramilitary troops had been activated to guard against reported guerrilla movements on farmland owned by whites. They said a curfew would be reimposed on the northern Ovambo region where the fighting erupted.

Hundreds of armed guerrillas who infiltrated Namibia, touching off bloody fighting and threatening this African territory's hopes for independence, misunderstood the United Nations' peace process and thought they could return home with U.N. protection as victors of the war, South African officials and captured rebels said Monday.

Black Namibians like Gabriel Nekongo had seen their dreams of peace and freedom snuffed out again and again over a quarter-century of war on this sun-baked plain of sand and scrub trees. But never have their hopes been raised so high as this year. A curfew was lifted. Bunkered South African army bases were being dismantled, strip by metal strip. The night air, so long filled with the echoes of gunfire and fear, was quiet. And U.N. peacekeeping troops had appeared on the streets.