World Notes NAMIBIA

Elections for an independent Namibia were less than a week away when South Africa, which has controlled the country for 74 years, called foul. Pretoria dramatically claimed that hundreds of Marxist SWAPO guerrillas were infiltrating illegally into the country, posing a serious threat to a free and fair vote. Claiming to have "monitored" internal messages from a United Nations group supervising the election, South Africa suggested that the unit was reluctant to act against SWAPO. Vowing to "take whatever steps would be required," South Africa put its own troops on alert.

U.N. officials denounced the supposed intercepts as fakes, and peacekeepers in Namibia reported that the country was "exceptionally calm." South Africa's actions appeared to be a last pre-election blast against SWAPO, which is favored to win and install a leftist government on South Africa's border. Pretoria retreated by week's end, saying it might have fallen for a hoax.