House Concurrent Resolution 298. the first of these resolutions that we are bringing before the House. expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should reaffirm and continue its policy of not recognizing South Africas illegal occupation of Namibia. The Republic of South Africa should comply with the charter of the United Nations. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. and the Geneva Convention of 1949. the sole basis on which South Africa as an illegal occupying force in Namibia may detain individuals and South Africa should release all detainees at the Mariental Camp or revoke the order that terminated the court proceedings instituted on March 4. 1984. and permit a full hearing to proceed of the lawfulness of the continuing detention of the Cassinga detainees. The Mariental detainees resulted from a raid conducted by South African defense forces in 1978 on the Cassinga refugee settlement 150 miles within Angola. On the pretext of striking against SWAPO guerrillas. the South African defense forces killed over 600 Namibian refugees. many of whom were women and children and forcibly removed more than 100 of the survivors from Angola and placed them into a military internment camp near Mariental where they have been detained for 6 years without charges. The committee believes that since this resolution was introduced 55 detainees have been released and the Namibian Supreme Court ruled against a suit brought to contest continuing detention of the Cassinga raid survivors. The Department of State has stated in its comments to the committee that it shares the concerns raised in the resolution about the illegality of South Africas presence in Namibia and the circumstances of the detention of those captured and held at Mariental.
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refugee refugees