ABSTRACT
In the past four decades 1,000 million people have achieved freedom globally and more than 100 new states have joined the UN. But never has the UN undertaken-with outstanding success-such a deliberate and difficult task as the making of Namibia. This was not just peacekeeping. It was an operation to facilitate the transition of a country from the subjugation of an illicitly occupied colony to self-determination as a sovereign state. It was not just a decolonization exercise. It involved the meshing together of elements, civilian and military, to bring about social, political and constitutional change among people without either democratic traditions or experience. Seventy years of determined effort have gone into this great UN achievement. Each step has been taken in the glare of public attention and often disputed interest. Namibia’s story is a unique demonstration of what careful planning, full collaboration, international support, and adequate finance, can achieve.
