Who Wants a Mission? Canadian Forces' Resistance to a Role in the UN Transition Assistance Group for Namibia, 1978

Abstract

In order to develop a more balanced understanding of Canadian peacekeeping, this article explores questions about resistance to the Namibia mission in 1978. It argues that the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces resisted a role in order to protect institutional interests. They wanted influence over government decision-making on commitments, to avoid costs and to protect their personnel from extreme risk. Woven throughout was the subtext that the UN was asking, and receiving, too much. The Canadian defence community resisted participation as much as a department and military subordinate to civilian political control possibly could.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author would like to thank Ken Booth, Margaret Karns, Richard Rathbone, Richard Jackson and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes

Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, Allan Gotlieb, Memo. for the Minister of External Affairs, ‘United Nations Peacekeeping in Namibia’, 3 Feb. 1978, p.5, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25-A-3-C, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.1.

Deputy Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, Klaus Goldschlag, Memo. to Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Operations) in the Privy Council Office, de Montigny Marchand, attachment, ‘Namibia’, 20 July 1978, p.2, in Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Vol.8580, Part 23.

Ibid., p.3; ‘Bid for Acceptance of UN Plan Namibia May Need Canadian Troops’, Globe and Mail (Toronto), 20 Oct. 1978, p.A10.

Goldschlag (see n.2 above), p.2.

Allan Gotlieb, Memo. UNO-1371 to the Secretary of State for External Affairs Mark MacGuigan, ‘Namibia Negotiations’, 12 Dec. 1980, p.2, Library and Archives Canada, RG 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.3.

Department of External Affairs, ‘Namibia – Canadian Participation in the United Nations Transition Assistance Group’, secret level paper for SSEA, Draft No.8, 7 Jan. 1981, p.3, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25-A-3-C, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.3. See also Grant Dawson, ‘Contact Africa: Canadian Foreign Policy, the Contact Group, and Southern Africa’, International Journal, Vol.64, No.2, 2009, pp.525–6.

Norman Hillmer, ‘Canadian Peacekeeping and the Road Back to 1945’, in Fabrizio Ghilardi (ed.), Canada and Italy in the World: Current Opportunities, Future Possibilities, Piza: Edizioni Ets, 1993, p.151.

R.B. Byers, ‘Defence and Foreign Policy in the 1970s: The Demise of the Trudeau Doctrine’, International Journal, Vol.33, No.2, 1978, p.322.

Dennis Stairs, ‘The Military as an Instrument of Canadian Foreign Policy’, in Hector J. Massey (ed.), The Canadian Army: A Profile, Toronto: Copp Clark, 1972, pp.109,112.

Department of External Affairs, Foreign Policy for Canadians, White Paper, Ottawa, 1970.

J.L. Granatstein, ‘Canada and Peacekeeping: Image and Reality’, Canadian Forum, Vol.54, No.263, 1974, p.119; Hillmer (see n.7 above), pp.153–6.

Cited in Poeliu Dai, ‘The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and Canadian Participation’, Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Vol.17, 1979, p.305.

Sean M. Maloney, ‘Better Late than Never: Defence during the Mulroney Years’, in Raymond B. Blake (ed.), Transforming the Nation: Canada and Brian Mulroney, Montreal: McGill–Queen's University Press, 2007, p.161n.

Armando Entralgo and David Gonzalez, ‘Southern Africa and Its Conflicts: The African Policy of the Cuban Government’, in Larry A. Swatuk and Timothy M. Shaw (eds), Prospects for Peace and Development in Southern Africa in the 1990s: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives, New York: University Press of America, 1991, pp.120–1.

Author's interview with Amb. (retd) Donald McHenry, former US permanent representative to the UN, Washington, DC, 8 April 2008.

Hans-Joachim Vergau, ‘The Contact Group and Initial Negotiations (1978–1981)’, in Heribert Weiland and Matthew Braham (eds), The Namibian Peace Process: Implications and Lessons for the Future, Freiburg: Arnold Bergstraesser Institut, 1994, p.18.

According to South African reports, its military casualties including from accidents were 31 in 1979 and 76 in 1980. SWAPO lost 1,467 in 1980. See Canadian Embassy in Pretoria, telex WPGR-6006 to USSEA Allan Gotlieb, ‘Namibia: Military’, 19 Jan. 1981, p.1, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B19.

Author's interview with Henry Miller, former political adviser, US Permanent Mission to the UN, New York, 5 Nov. 2008.

Author's interview with Amb. (retd) Robert Fowler, former Canadian permanent representative to the UN, Ottawa, 20 Feb. 2008.

South Africa Department of Foreign Affairs, South West Africa – Survey 1974, Pretoria: Government Printer, 1975, pp.11–14.

UN Security Council, ‘Proposal for a Settlement of the Namibian Situation’, S/12636, 10 April 1978, p.2, and ‘Annex’, pp.1–3.

Ibid. See also S/RES/385, 30 Jan. 1976.

Alice Hills, Policing Africa: Internal Security and the Limits of Liberalization, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000, p.127; Colin Leys, ‘State and Civil Society: Policing in Transition’, in Leys and John S. Saul (eds), Namibia's Liberation Struggle: The Two-Edged Sword, London: James Curry, 1995, p.135.

UN, ‘Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’, S/12845, 13 Sept. 1978, p.24, cited in Dai (see n.12 above), p.305.

Geoffrey Pearson, Memo. to Derek Burney, Office of the Minister of External Affairs, ‘Peacekeeping – Namibia’, 20 April 1978, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25-A-3-C, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.1.

Charles W. Nixon, letter to Allan Gotlieb, 1 May 1978, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25-A-3-C, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.1.

Ibid.

Charles W. Nixon, letter to Allan Gotlieb, 6 June 1978, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25-A-3-C, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.1.

Allan Gotlieb, letter to Charles W. Nixon, 12 June 1978, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25-A-3-C, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.1.

A small number of peacekeepers were also deployed to Kashmir to monitor the India–Pakistan border. See Department of National Defence, Defence 1979, Ottawa, 1980, p.19.

Logistics in the Canadian Forces implies communications, air/ground transportation, combat service support, movement control, maintenance, engineering, medical care and other specialities. See National Defence Headquarters, ‘The Military Implications of a Possible Peacekeeping Commitment in Namibia’, briefing paper 3451-15, 26 Apr. 1978, pp.1, 5–6, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B1.

Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, ‘Provision of Troops to UNTAG Namibia’, telex WKGR-1617 to External Affairs, 17 July 1978, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25-A-3-C, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.1.

Government of Canada, ‘Namibia: Canadian Participation in the United Nations Transition Assistance Group’, Memo. for the Secretary of State for External Affairs, 12 Feb. 1979, pp.6–7, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B18.

Air Command Headquarters was created in 1975. It was assigned command of all Canadian military air assets. Air functions were organized into five groups, such as Air Transport Group and Fighter Group.

Rear Admiral John Allan, Memo. 3451-1 (D Log Ops), ‘Logistic Support – Namibia Force’, 25 Oct.1978, pp.1–2, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B5.

National Defence Headquarters (see n.31 above), pp.6–7.

Lt. Col. R.M. Gallagher, ‘Notes on Namibian Peacekeeping – Annex E: Logistic Support’, Memo. to Verona Edelstein, Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, 21 Sept. 1977, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25, 24-3-1-NAM, Vol.5.

Lt. Gen. Gérard C.E. Thériault, Memo. for Lt. Gen. J.J. Paradis, Commander of Force Mobile Command, ‘Possible Canadian Participation in United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia (UNTAG)’, 25 Oct. 1978, pp.1–2, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B5.

Author's correspondence with Lt. Gen. (retd) Kent Foster, 26 May 2009, pp.2–3.

Ibid.; J.L. Granatstein and Robert Bothwell, Pirouette: Pierre Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990, pp.235,255,260; author's interview with former commander of the Special Service Force (SSF), Maj. Gen. (retd) Andrew Christie, Comox, BC, 2 Jan. 2009.

National Defence Headquarters (see n.31 above), p.6.

Associate Assistant Deputy Minister (Material) Maj. Gen. E.B. Creber, ‘United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) – Possible CF Participation’, Memo. 3451-15, 16 Dec. 1980, p.2, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B18.

National Defence Headquarters (see n.31 above), pp.3–5.The SSF was a general purpose, rapid response light brigade formation created and built around the Canadian Airborne Regiment in 1977.

The Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force merged into a unified single-service structure (the Canadian Forces) in 1968. Force Mobile Command was created exclusively as a land force after a further reorganization in 1975.

Author's interview with Christie (see n.40 above).

Bernd Horn, Bastard Sons: An Examination of Canada's Airborne Experience, 1942–1995, St Catherine's, ON Vanwell, 2001, p.151.

Kent Foster, ‘Testimony of Lieutenant-General (retd) Kent Foster to the Somalia Inquiry’, 5 Oct. 1995, Vol.3, pp.407–8, in Information Legacy: A Compendium of Source Material from the Commission of Inquiry into the Deployment of Canadian Forces to Somalia, Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 1997.

Ahtisaari had been the UN commissioner for Namibia since January 1977.

Author's interviews with Col. (retd) Dick Day, participant in UN reconnaissance of Namibia, Aug. 1978, London, ON., 15 Oct. 2008, and Lt. Col. (retd) Patrick D. Ledgerwood, participant in UN reconnaissance of Namibia, Aug. 1978, Edmonton, 6 Oct. 2008.

Lisa Morjé Howard, ‘UN Peace Implementation in Namibia: The Causes of Success,’ International Peacekeeping, Vol.9, No.1, 2002, pp.110–11.

Author's interview with Ledgerwood (see n.49 above).

Author's interview with Day (see n.49 above).

Author's interview with Ledgerwood (see n.49 above).

UN Security Council, ‘Report of the Secretary-General Submitted Pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Security Council Resolution 431 (1978) Concerning the Situation in Namibia’, S/12827, 29 Aug. 1978, paras.24–6.

Ibid., para.37; author's interview with Ledgerwood (see n.49 above).

Cedric Thornberry, A Nation Is Born: The Inside Story of Namibia's Independence, Windhoek: Gamsberg-Macmillan, 2004, p.149.

UN Security Council, ‘Explanatory Statement by the Secretary-General Regarding His Report Submitted Pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Security Council Resolution 431 (1978) Concerning the Situation in Namibia, S/12827’, S/12869, 28 Sept. 1978, pp.1–2; Brig. Gen. J.L.R. Lacroix, ‘Briefing Note for the Deputy Minister – Possible Canadian Participation in UN Operations in Namibia’, 26 Oct. 1978, pp.1–2, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B5.

Ibid., p.2.

Author's correspondence with Maj. Gen. (retd) Andrew Christie, 12 May 2009.

Lacroix (see n.57 above), p.3; author's interview with Amb. (retd) Ian Ferguson, External Affairs South Africa–Namibia Desk (1983–86) and director general of the Africa Bureau (2005–07), Ottawa, 5 June 2009.

Lacroix (see n.57 above,) p.4.

UN Security Council, ‘Letter Dated 21 October 1978 from the Representatives of Canada, France, West Germany, United Kingdom, and United States Addressed to the President of the Security Council’, S/12902: Annex 2, 21 Oct. 1978, p.1; Capt. (Navy) D.R. Donaldson, Memo. to Assistant Deputy Minister (Policy), ‘Namibia: Observer Missions’, 10 Nov. 1978, p.1, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, File B6; author's interview with McHenry (see n.15 above).

Department of External Affairs, Bureau of UN Affairs, Memo. UNO-154 to Anglophone Africa Division, ‘Windhoek Observer Mission’, 16 Jan. 1979, p.1; Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, telex WKGR-0120 to Bureau of UN Affairs, ‘Namibia: Observers in Windhoek’, 22 Jan. 1979, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25, 24-3-1-Namib-1.

Donaldson (see n.62 above), p.1.

Jannie Geldenhuys, At the Front: A General's Account of South Africa's Border War, 2nd edn, Cape Town: Jonathan Ball, 2009, p.128; Christopher Coker, ‘Peacekeeping in Southern Africa – the United Nations and Namibia’, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Vol.19, No.2, 1981, p.179.

Author's interview with McHenry (see n.15 above).

Canadian Embassy in Pretoria, telex WPGR-5437 to External Affairs, ‘Namibia’, 6 July 1979, p.1, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Vol.10,824, Part 25.

Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, telex WKGR-2466 to External Affairs, ‘Namibia: UNTAG – Military Component’, 28 Nov. 1980, p.1, Library and Archives Canada, RG 25, 21-14-6-UNTAG, Vol.3; Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff Vice-Admiral John Allan, Memo. ‘United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) – Possible CF Participation’, 8 Dec. 1980, pp.1–2, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History & Heritage Archives, Claude Beauregard fonds, 96/30, Series 8, 96/30, Series 8, File B18.

UN, ‘Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (for the Period of 19 March to 13 Sept. 1973)’, S/12845, 13 Sept. 1985, para.24; Grant Dawson, Here Is Hell: Canada's Engagement in Somalia, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p.47.