African guerrilla leader Sam Nujoma is asking presidential hopefuls Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson to pressure South Africa into relinquishing control over South-West Africa, the territory known as Namibia. Nujoma, who heads the South-West Africa People's Organization, said he had met with campaign managers who promised him a meeting with the two Democratic candidates within the coming week. GOP contender George Bush has not responded to a similar request for a meeting, Nujoma said in an interview Tuesday. Nujoma, 58, said that despite claims to the contrary, South Africa is trying to strengthen its hold over the mineral-rich territory which it rules in defiance of a 1978 U.N. resolution calling for Namibian independence. Nujoma, who lives in exile in Angola, accused South African troops of arson and bombing attacks against Namibia's 1.5 million residents, including the burning of 14 church-run schools last month. South Africa has denied the charges, accusing SWAPO of the attacks. South African President P.W. Botha paid a rare visit to the territory on April 8, and proposed increased powers for his chief representative there. The proposal would weaken the ``transitional'' government established by South Africa in 1985 with a view to eventual independence for Namibia. ``South Africa has no intention whatsoever to leave Namibia,'' said Nujoma. The South Africans will have to be ``forced out by the combined resistance of the Namibian people and international pressure.'' He called on the next U.S. administration to pursue steps similar to the trade sanctions legislated by Congress in 1986 against South Africa. Nujoma said he had requested a meeting with Secretary of State George P. Shultz but had not received any response. A State Department official confirmed Nujoma had asked for a meeting, and said Shultz had yet to reply. Shultz has been criticized by conservative members of Congress, such as Rep. Patrick Swindall, R-Ga., for allowing Nujoma into the country in view of his organization's guerrilla activities and support from the Soviet Union. In a letter to Shultz, Swindall called Nujoma a ``terrorist and Soviet puppet.'' The United States supports a South African pullout and an independent Namibia, but its contacts with SWAPO have been limited. U.S. representatives are taking part in two days of talks in London with representatives from Angola, Cuba and South Africa on a plan for the pullout of South African forces from Namibia and Cuban troops from Angola. Cuba has an estimated 37,000 soldiers in Angola. Estimates for the South African military presence in Namibia range from 40,000 to 100,000. Nujoma said he was sure Angola would protect his group's interests at the talks and press its demands for Namibian independence. ``It will be a package, I am assured of this by the Angolan government,'' he said. If an agreement is worked out, SWAPO will stop its attacks against South African troops, he said. SWAPO says it killed more than 90 South Africans this year, but its claims cannot be verified. Nujoma conceded that SWAPO gets most of its arms and training from the Soviet Union, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Angola and several other members of the Organization of African Unity. But he added that if the United States wants to supply SWAPO with weapons, ``we will certainly accept it with great pleasure.'' Nujoma is on a three-week visit to the United States to attend several U.N.-sponsored seminars on Namibia and to highlight his organization's demands.
