ABSTRACT
The United Nations' support for Namibia has had a long and varied history that is now, two decades after Namibian independence, fully ripe for evaluation. This chapter explores the development and practice of United Nations Transition Assistance Group's (UNTAG) information program, i.e., the communication arm of this UN-run intervention in the long-standing civil and regional conflict in southern Africa, a conflict which had destabilized the region for several decades. UNTAG also began to hold fortnightly meetings with the major political parties in its district centers to discuss all matters of concern relating to the election campaign. The United Nations Secretariat conducted post-mission assessments of its Namibia-operation from various angles, political, military, logistical, administrative, and informational. The UN's main message in this apartheid-dominated territory was that the political process leading to independence was the most important goal and the first step towards national self-determination.
