Treaty on Walvis Bay

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Treaty on Walvis Bay
Treaty between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of Namibia with respect to Walvis Bay and the Off-shore Islands
Walvis Bay map.jpeg
Location of Walvis Bay relative to Namibia
Signed28 February 1994 (1994-02-28)
Location Walvis Bay
Effective1 March 1994
Original
signatories
Parties
LanguageEnglish

The Treaty on Walvis Bay is a treaty which transferred control of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands from South Africa to Namibia. It was signed on 28 February 1994 by Kobie Coetsee for South Africa and Ngarikutuke Tjiriange for Namibia, and came into force on 1 March 1994.

Contents

Background

Walvis Bay is the only natural harbour on the coastline of what is now Namibia. It was claimed for Britain in 1878 and formally annexed as an exclave of the Cape Colony in 1884. The rest of what is now the republic of Namibia, including the coastline north and south of Walvis Bay, was colonised by the German Empire as German South West Africa. At the formation of the Union of South Africa, Walvis Bay became part of the Cape Province of the Union. [1]

During World War I South African troops conquered and occupied the German colony, and in 1920 South Africa was granted a League of Nations mandate to administer it as the Territory of South West Africa (SWA). In 1922 the South African parliament enacted that Walvis Bay was to be administered as part of SWA. [1]

In 1977, with international pressure mounting on South Africa to allow Namibian independence, the South African government detached Walvis Bay from SWA and transferred its administration back to the Cape Province. [2] The position of the South African government was that Walvis Bay remained an integral part of South Africa notwithstanding the 55 years that it had been de facto integrated into SWA. [3] The UN General Assembly condemned South Africa's action as an "annexation", while UN Security Council Resolution 432 called for the "reintegration" of Walvis Bay into SWA/Namibia. [3]

Namibia achieved independence in 1990, and its constitution explicitly declared Walvis Bay to be Namibian territory, but the South African government dismissed this claim. [2] [4]

Negotiations

Settlement of the Walvis Bay question was tied up with the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa. [2] During the first plenary session of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) negotiations in December 1991, Namibian diplomats circulated a resolution proposing the reintegration of Walvis Bay with Namibia. Neither this resolution, nor continued lobbying at the second CODESA plenary in May 1992, met with success. [5] However bilateral negotiations led to the establishment in November 1992 of a Joint Administrative Authority for Walvis Bay, on which Namibia and South Africa were equally represented. [5]

The Multi-Party Negotiating Forum (MPNF), the next phase of the negotiations to end apartheid, began in April 1993. One of the topics of discussion at the MPNF was the demarcation of South Africa into new provinces; to this end the National Party submitted a proposal that Walvis Bay should be included in the Western Cape province of South Africa, thus re-igniting the question of Walvis Bay. The African National Congress and other liberation movements supported the Namibian claim. [5] On 16 August 1993 the Negotiating Council of the MPNF passed a resolution calling for the incorporation of Walvis Bay and the off-shore islands into Namibia at the earliest possible opportunity. [2]

The final treaty was signed by the justice ministers of Namibia and South Africa in Walvis Bay on 28 February 1994, with the transfer of control taking place set to take place on the following day. A number of other technical agreements regulating effects of the transfer were signed in February–May 1994. The agreement was given legislative force by the Transfer of Walvis Bay to Namibia Act, 1993 in South Africa and the Walvis Bay and Off-shore Islands Act, 1994 in Namibia, which also regulated legal consequences of the transfer.

Articles

The treaty consists of six articles.

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References

  1. 1 2 Griffiths, Ieuan (October 1994). "Walvis Bay: exclave no more". Geography. 79 (4): 354–357. JSTOR   40572467.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dugard, John (November 1994). "Namibia–South Africa: Treaty on Walvis Bay". International Legal Materials. 33 (6): 1526–1528. JSTOR   20698396.
  3. 1 2 Partington, Earle A. (January 1988). "Walvis Bay: South Africa's Claims to Sovereignty". Denver Journal of International Law & Policy. 16 (2): 247–321. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  4. ↑ Mntambo, V. (1991). "Important public law legislation enacted in 1990". SA Public Law. 6 (1). Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Kodisang, J.M. (April 1995). "Chapter 3: Joint Administration Agreement/Authority". The reintegration of Walvis Bay and its Penguin/Off-shore Island into Namibia (MA thesis). Rhodes University. hdl:10962/d1003000.
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