1.
GV TILT DOWN Buildings.
0.05

2.
GV South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha walks towards building.
0.08

3.
GV South African Prime Minister Pieter Botha arrives and enters building.
0.19

4.
SV United States Secretary of State Cyrus Vance enters. (2 SHOTS)
0.26

5.
SV West German Foreign Minister Hans Deitrich Genscher arrives.
0.29

6.
GV French deputy Foreign Minister Olivier Stirn arrives.
0.38

7.
GV Canadian Foreign Minister Donald Jamieson arrives.
0.54

8.
SV Britain Foreign Minister Dr. David Owen arrives.
1.05

9.
SV PAN INT Pik Botha PAN TO Vance and Owen chatting. (2 SHOTS)
1.25

10.
GV Vance arriving for luncheon. (2 SHOTS)
1.33

11.
GV Genscher arriving.
1.38

12.
SV Donald Jamieson arriving.
1.41

13.
SV Owen arrives and enters building.
1.46

14.
SV Pik Botha arrives.
1.52

15.
SV PAN Luncheon table. (3 SHOTS)
2.08


South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha said on Tuesday a difficult situation had arisen, and he could not predict how long it would take his country to formulate its position. The Western compromise plan was described as containing two pre-independence elections: the one called by South Africa for December 4-8; the other, UN-supervised, and held towards the middle of 1979.




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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Western Foreign Ministers and South African delegates decided on Tuesday (17 October) to prolong once again their talks on the future of Namibia (South West Africa).

SYNOPSIS: The talks began on Monday (16 October) at the Union Building in Pretoria. South African Foreign Minister, Pik Botha, arrived just ahead of newly-elected Prime Minister Pieter Botha. One report said that, on Tuesday, Mr. Pieter Botha received a personal letter from President Carter.

United States Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance was followed by the West German Foreign Minister, Herr Hans Deitrich Genscher.

While talks were going on, delegates were to impose a communications blackout along the lines of the one they contended had worked so well at the Camp David summit on the Middle East. The five Foreign Ministers represented those countries with whom South Africa earlier this year agreed on a Namibian independence plan involving internationally-supervised elections. South Africa later rejected the plan, claiming it contained details to which it had not agreed.

After the second day of negotiations, spokesmen for the Western Ministers said negotiations had reached a difficult stage. One spokesman said the negotiations would go on for as long as it was in the interests of all parties to do so.

These negotiations were made necessary after South Africa recently declared unilaterally that it would hold elections in Namibia next December. The aim now is to reach a satisfactory compromise between South Africa's plans for the territory's independence, and what the United Nations wants.

One report on Tuesday's talks said Western Ministers were considering a compromise scheme suggesting two elections in Namibia to achieve an internationally-recognised independence. It was described as a day of tough bargaining, which ended with South Africa stalling over its response to Western proposals for elections supervised by the United Nations.