«Our Armed Forces are capable of giving their lives without asking for anything in return», stated the Defence Minister where he was the advisor to the UN Special Representative. The Army General said that the guerrilla had not taken part in the agreement between Angola, Cuba and South Africa; therefore they declared «hostile force» toward UNAVEM. «Nobody could believe that we would be able to control all that territory, but we gained credibility from the parties, including from the guerrilla». «A mission’s success —José Rodríguez concluded— is based on achieving everybody’s trust and, to that end, neutrality and impartiality are a must». S.F.V. Photos: Pepe Díaz Angola, Cuba, Namibia and South Africa. The missions were related, as South Africa requested the full withdrawal of the Cuban troops from Angola before granting independence to its neighbouring Namibia. UNTAG started on April 1st 1989 and ended on the day of independence, March 21st 1990, when the Namibian flag replaced the South African flag in Windhoek, the capital of the new State. UNAVEM took place between January 1989 and October 1991 and continued with UNAVEM II until February 1995, to verify the effectiveness of the ceasefire. Pedro Bernal, who later became the director of the Centre for Higher National Defence Studies (CESEDEN), explained that the task of the second Spanish contingent in Namibia was to «perfect and refine» the work carried out by the previous contingent, led by Lieutenant Colonel Luis Ferrús. The latter’s command coincided with the holding of elections, which entailed a great number of flights on his part. «We had to set up an operations centre —he recalled—, where we gathered all the inservice personnel to keep in permanent touch with the aircraft, which were frantically flying all over the country. We also had to solve engine problems; they were losing power and we discovered that the reason was airborne dust». The Air Force Lieutenant General listed some of the characteristics of our contribution to UNTAG: «fluid and effective» interaction with military personnel from other countries; integration into a UN structure; and a «first class» relationship with the civilian population, as well as with the South Africans who were providing us with airborne support. He said that the Spanish contingent gave an image of «ability, professionalism, promptness, etc., and that this was expressly conveyed by most of the contingents and by the United Nations’ Secretary-General himself, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar». ANGOLA José Rodríguez underlined the «strong bonds» that were forged among the 70 military members of the ten UNAVEM participating nations. «We learned a great deal from one another. We came from different cultures, languages and continents but our prejudices soon disappeared. We all wanted to give the best of ourselves for peace to avoid the suffering of many people». He said that he subsequently found this mutual understanding within multinational teams in other UN missions in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and in Kosovo (MINUK), L JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ «We wanted to give the best of ourselves for peace to avoid the suffering of many people» L PEDRO BERNAL «The Spanish contingent in Namibia offered an image of professionalism and ability» December 2019 Revista Española de Defensa 19
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