Kennedy Pledges to Work for Namibia’s Independence

WINDHOEK, Namibia — Jeered by whites and cheered by larger black crowds, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Saturday that he will return home to seek independence for this disputed territory.

Kennedy told several hundred people in the black township of Katutura outside Windhoek that the next time he visits Namibia (South-West Africa), he wants to see it independent according to a longstanding United Nations plan.

“I will go back to the Senate of the United States to say I have met brave men and women in Namibia, whose only desire is to be free,” he said outside a Roman Catholic church where he met with church and nationalist leaders for two hours.

Among topics discussed by the leaders and the Massachusetts Democrat were the long-delayed, United States-led negotiations for Namibian independence, plus allegations by blacks of police and military atrocities.

Kennedy also said he would work to end the Reagan Administration’s policy of so-called constructive engagement with South Africa, “which has been an ineffective and bad policy.”

Constructive engagement--coupled with behind-the-scenes pressure for change--is the policy of political and economic contacts with South Africa seen by the Reagan Administration as the best way to promote peaceful change in the white minority-ruled country.

Dozens of white people picketed Kennedy when he arrived at Windhoek’s airport. They carried signs reading, “We Can Do Without American Liberal Hypocrisy” and “Mr. Kennedy, You Have Never Done Anything for Namibia, So Go Home.”

South Africa invaded German-ruled South-West Africa on behalf of the Allies in World War I and later controlled the territory under a League of Nations mandate. South Africa continues to govern the territory in defiance of subsequent United Nations calls for immediate independence for Namibia.

Hundreds of nationalists greeted Kennedy in the black township of Katutura.

Many in the crowd were supporters of the South-West Africa People’s Organization, which operates as a legal political party in Namibia although South African forces are fighting a bush war against the organization’s guerrillas based in neighboring Angola. SWAPO civilians disclaim direct connections with the guerrillas.

Later Saturday, Kennedy flew to Johannesburg, where he began his South African tour eight days ago. He told reporters aboard his plane that he has found South Africa’s white leaders “unresponsive and unrealistic” on the prospects for race reform.

“I did not gather from my conversations with government officials that they were committed to meaningful progress on the basic issues of citizenship, voting and human rights (for blacks),” Kennedy said.