International African Institute

Namibia: The Facts by International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern AfricaReview by: Ben WisnerAfrica: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 53, No. 1 (1983), pp. 106-107Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1159797 .

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important episode in the history of religion as such. The upholders of this second and more militant phase of Islamisation constituted the class of 'ulama, a breed of men more inclined to wage war on the principle of religious accommodation. An important social consequence of this conflict was the loss of religious status for women. Under the older dispensation women presided over religious sites devoted to local spirits. Militant Islam put paid to much of this.

The student of religion must regret the diminution of the wider religious heritage that may result from the coming of a self-conscious Islam, although it is impossible that the old attitudes can have been so thoroughly eradicated. It is even more questionable whether monotheism is a more effective and more advanced vehicle for the expression of religious beliefs than traditional religions, especially if we allow for the striking differences among those religions that may be classified as 'monotheist'. The implication for Islam's reputation as being thoroughly harmonious with indigenisation is self-evident.

There is no doubt about the merits of the book. Its detailed descriptions and the copious use of first-hand material make it indispensable for those who are interested in African Islamic history, in historiography and in the general phenomenon of political innovation and religious transformation. It is typical too that it should join the growing Africa list of Christopher Hurst Publishers, whose unostentatious profile in the field masks a formidable reputation.

LAMIN SANNEH

Harvard University

INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE AND AID FUND FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA, Namibia: the facts, London: International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, 1980, 100 pp., ? 1.50 paperback.

Namibia is a vast territory nearly four times the size of the United Kingdom. Although its Central Plateau is suitable for cattle and sheep grazing, Namibia's ocean waters and subsoil are its two greatest natural resources. The country is reputed to have the richest inshore and deepwater fishing zones in tropical Africa. Diamonds and uranium head the list of minerals currently exploited. There are also large deposits of copper, zinc, lead and smaller amounts of cadmium, lithium, tin, silver, wolfram and salt. Eight South African companies work Namibia's fishing grounds, while South African, American and British capital combines to make up such mining giants as Consolidated Diamond Mines, Rio Tinto Zinc and Tsumeb Corporation.

It is hardly surprising that South Africa continues to defy international law by continuing to occupy Namibia- with a military force now of over 60,000 troops- as it has since 1966, when the UN General Assembly terminated South Africa's mandate. Behind this show of belligerent recalcitrance, which some might want simply to put down to archaic racist and paternalist attitudes, are issues of multinational political economy and international law. Anglo-American Corporation (owner of Consolidated Diamond Mines) and British-owned Rio Tinto Zinc control ninety per cent of mining production in Namibia. Half Namibia's exports go to South Africa and a quarter to the United Kingdom. These are powerful economic interests, powerfully concentrated. Ranged against them, in support of UN-supervised elections that would undoubtedly bring in an independent government headed by the liberation movement SWAPO (South West Africa People's Organisation), is not only the whole of the UN General Assembly (resolutions 385 of 1976 and 435 of 1978) and the membership of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) but the insistent pressure of such Third World giants as petroleum-rich Nigeria.

The International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), a London-based organisation with observer status in the UN Economic and Social Council, has produced a useful introduction to the many issues that surround Namibia. IDAF devotes three chapters to geographical, demographic and historical background as well as the evolution of Namibia's international status from League of Nations mandate, through a series of International Court of Justice rulings, UN General Assembly resolutions, and South African audacities (such as annexing Namibia's only deep-water port, Walvis Bay, in 1977 as a hedge against eventual Namibian independence). South Africa's policies and the practice of Apartheid in Namibia are described in chapters four and five. Two more concise chapters describe the Namibian economy and

important episode in the history of religion as such. The upholders of this second and more militant phase of Islamisation constituted the class of 'ulama, a breed of men more inclined to wage war on the principle of religious accommodation. An important social consequence of this conflict was the loss of religious status for women. Under the older dispensation women presided over religious sites devoted to local spirits. Militant Islam put paid to much of this.

The student of religion must regret the diminution of the wider religious heritage that may result from the coming of a self-conscious Islam, although it is impossible that the old attitudes can have been so thoroughly eradicated. It is even more questionable whether monotheism is a more effective and more advanced vehicle for the expression of religious beliefs than traditional religions, especially if we allow for the striking differences among those religions that may be classified as 'monotheist'. The implication for Islam's reputation as being thoroughly harmonious with indigenisation is self-evident.

There is no doubt about the merits of the book. Its detailed descriptions and the copious use of first-hand material make it indispensable for those who are interested in African Islamic history, in historiography and in the general phenomenon of political innovation and religious transformation. It is typical too that it should join the growing Africa list of Christopher Hurst Publishers, whose unostentatious profile in the field masks a formidable reputation.

LAMIN SANNEH

Harvard University

INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE AND AID FUND FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA, Namibia: the facts, London: International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, 1980, 100 pp., ? 1.50 paperback.

Namibia is a vast territory nearly four times the size of the United Kingdom. Although its Central Plateau is suitable for cattle and sheep grazing, Namibia's ocean waters and subsoil are its two greatest natural resources. The country is reputed to have the richest inshore and deepwater fishing zones in tropical Africa. Diamonds and uranium head the list of minerals currently exploited. There are also large deposits of copper, zinc, lead and smaller amounts of cadmium, lithium, tin, silver, wolfram and salt. Eight South African companies work Namibia's fishing grounds, while South African, American and British capital combines to make up such mining giants as Consolidated Diamond Mines, Rio Tinto Zinc and Tsumeb Corporation.

It is hardly surprising that South Africa continues to defy international law by continuing to occupy Namibia- with a military force now of over 60,000 troops- as it has since 1966, when the UN General Assembly terminated South Africa's mandate. Behind this show of belligerent recalcitrance, which some might want simply to put down to archaic racist and paternalist attitudes, are issues of multinational political economy and international law. Anglo-American Corporation (owner of Consolidated Diamond Mines) and British-owned Rio Tinto Zinc control ninety per cent of mining production in Namibia. Half Namibia's exports go to South Africa and a quarter to the United Kingdom. These are powerful economic interests, powerfully concentrated. Ranged against them, in support of UN-supervised elections that would undoubtedly bring in an independent government headed by the liberation movement SWAPO (South West Africa People's Organisation), is not only the whole of the UN General Assembly (resolutions 385 of 1976 and 435 of 1978) and the membership of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) but the insistent pressure of such Third World giants as petroleum-rich Nigeria.

The International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), a London-based organisation with observer status in the UN Economic and Social Council, has produced a useful introduction to the many issues that surround Namibia. IDAF devotes three chapters to geographical, demographic and historical background as well as the evolution of Namibia's international status from League of Nations mandate, through a series of International Court of Justice rulings, UN General Assembly resolutions, and South African audacities (such as annexing Namibia's only deep-water port, Walvis Bay, in 1977 as a hedge against eventual Namibian independence). South Africa's policies and the practice of Apartheid in Namibia are described in chapters four and five. Two more concise chapters describe the Namibian economy and

106 106 REVIEWS REVIEWS

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.28 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 01:07:06 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

labour force. The rest of the book focuses on the current struggle for independence. There are very useful chapters on the various political groups in Namibia, on a number of alternative proposals that have been advanced for independence, and on South Africa's aggressive attempts to derail movement in that direction. These illegal and condemned actions include invasion of neighbouring Angola, massacre of civilians, illegal detention and torture of political opponents, control of the press and media. The IDAF volume documents these outrages as well as the courage and persistence of those struggling for independence in the face of such brutality. The editors include as an appendix the moving and clear-sighted statement of Herman ja Toivo, a founding member of SWAPO, made before the South African Supreme Court after he and others had been found guilty under the Terrorism Act in 1968.

Namibia: the Facts gives the reader a firm impression of the elaborate preparations the UN has made for the transition to independence both in the text and in appendices describing the workings of the UN Council for Namibia (the de jure government of the territory at present under international law) and the UN Transition Assistance Group, with its military and civilian components. These preparations, the universal recognition of SWAPO as the legitimate representative of the Namibian people (it is the only liberation movement ever to have been granted full observer status in the UN), and growing co-ordination of regional economic planning among Namibia's independent neighbours and supporters (e.g. the formation of the Southern Africa Development Co-ordinating Conference by the front-line States) all combine to dispel rumours of the economic or social chaos that would ensue if Namibia became independent.

Independence is only a matter of time. Can further stalling not even further imperil those economic interests that lie behind the conflict in the first place? One interesting thing one learns from the IDAF effort is that according to Decree No. 1 (1974) of the UN Council for Namibia on the protection of the natural resources of Namibia, 'any natural resources taken from Namibia without the Council's consent [are] liable to be seized and forfeited and that any person or corporation contravening the Decree might be held liable to damages by the future government of an independent Namibia' (p. 26). It is not likely that SWAPO, committed to 'social ownership of all the resources of the country' (p. 45), is likely to forget this decree, nor the suffering of the Namibian people both at home and in the refugee camps outside, where 40,000 civilians are exposed to recurring South African attack, nor the seemingly endless scheming and bad faith shown by Pretoria and its backers in the Contact Group of Western nations (the USA, Britain, France, West Germany and Canada). This valuable book is therefore not only to be considered required reading for scholars, activists and teachers but might help dispel the dreams of past empire in the heads of a few corporation executives.

BEN WISNER

University of Wisconsin

RECENT PUBLICATIONS A regional listing based mainly on books received.

The listing here does not preclude a later review. It is planned that the listing will follow a regular sequence in each volume, namely: No. 1. North and west Africa No. 2. East and central Africa No. 3. Southern Africa No. 4. General, bibliographical and reference

NORTH AFRICA

Abdel-Khalek, G., and Tignor, R. (eds.), The el Amin, Y. M., Later Pleistocene cultural political economy of income distribution in Egypt, adaptations in Sudanese Nubia, Cambridge The Political Economy of Income Monographs in African Archaeology, No. 4, Distribution in Developing Countries, BAR International Series, No. 114, 1981, 231 Holmes & Meier, New York and London, pp., index, bibliography, tables, maps, 1982, 525 pp., index, tables, graph, diagrams. diagrams.

labour force. The rest of the book focuses on the current struggle for independence. There are very useful chapters on the various political groups in Namibia, on a number of alternative proposals that have been advanced for independence, and on South Africa's aggressive attempts to derail movement in that direction. These illegal and condemned actions include invasion of neighbouring Angola, massacre of civilians, illegal detention and torture of political opponents, control of the press and media. The IDAF volume documents these outrages as well as the courage and persistence of those struggling for independence in the face of such brutality. The editors include as an appendix the moving and clear-sighted statement of Herman ja Toivo, a founding member of SWAPO, made before the South African Supreme Court after he and others had been found guilty under the Terrorism Act in 1968.

Namibia: the Facts gives the reader a firm impression of the elaborate preparations the UN has made for the transition to independence both in the text and in appendices describing the workings of the UN Council for Namibia (the de jure government of the territory at present under international law) and the UN Transition Assistance Group, with its military and civilian components. These preparations, the universal recognition of SWAPO as the legitimate representative of the Namibian people (it is the only liberation movement ever to have been granted full observer status in the UN), and growing co-ordination of regional economic planning among Namibia's independent neighbours and supporters (e.g. the formation of the Southern Africa Development Co-ordinating Conference by the front-line States) all combine to dispel rumours of the economic or social chaos that would ensue if Namibia became independent.

Independence is only a matter of time. Can further stalling not even further imperil those economic interests that lie behind the conflict in the first place? One interesting thing one learns from the IDAF effort is that according to Decree No. 1 (1974) of the UN Council for Namibia on the protection of the natural resources of Namibia, 'any natural resources taken from Namibia without the Council's consent [are] liable to be seized and forfeited and that any person or corporation contravening the Decree might be held liable to damages by the future government of an independent Namibia' (p. 26). It is not likely that SWAPO, committed to 'social ownership of all the resources of the country' (p. 45), is likely to forget this decree, nor the suffering of the Namibian people both at home and in the refugee camps outside, where 40,000 civilians are exposed to recurring South African attack, nor the seemingly endless scheming and bad faith shown by Pretoria and its backers in the Contact Group of Western nations (the USA, Britain, France, West Germany and Canada). This valuable book is therefore not only to be considered required reading for scholars, activists and teachers but might help dispel the dreams of past empire in the heads of a few corporation executives.

BEN WISNER

University of Wisconsin

RECENT PUBLICATIONS A regional listing based mainly on books received.

The listing here does not preclude a later review. It is planned that the listing will follow a regular sequence in each volume, namely: No. 1. North and west Africa No. 2. East and central Africa No. 3. Southern Africa No. 4. General, bibliographical and reference

NORTH AFRICA

Abdel-Khalek, G., and Tignor, R. (eds.), The el Amin, Y. M., Later Pleistocene cultural political economy of income distribution in Egypt, adaptations in Sudanese Nubia, Cambridge The Political Economy of Income Monographs in African Archaeology, No. 4, Distribution in Developing Countries, BAR International Series, No. 114, 1981, 231 Holmes & Meier, New York and London, pp., index, bibliography, tables, maps, 1982, 525 pp., index, tables, graph, diagrams. diagrams.

REVIEWS REVIEWS 107 107

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.28 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 01:07:06 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions