CONFIDENTIAL
including, most recently, 34/92 of December 1979, on which the UK abstained. Paragraph 1 of this resolution reads:
4.
'Requests all specialised agencies and other organisations and conferences within the UN system to grant full membership to the UN Council for Namibia so that it may participate in that capacity as the administering authority for Namibia in the work of those agencies, organisations and conferences.''
HMG do not consider the Council to be the lawful administration of Namibia, because they do not regard the General Assembly as competent to endow them with such a status. It was for this reason of non-competence that in 1967 the UK was among the countries which abstained on General Assembly Resolution 2248 which provided for the establishment of the Council. It follows from this that we do not accept the Council's claim to take part in the work of international conferences as the administering authority for Namibia and do not favour the enhancement of their pretensions to act as such, and have therefore in the past opposed (by abstention or vote against) moves by them to gain more than observer status at UN technical conferences. We have, however, now to take account of the extent to which they have in practice obtained rights of participation, as well as of the implications which the position adopted by us may have for negotiations over the future of Namibia in which we are closely involved.
5.
Voting Instructions on Participation by the Council:
(a) If it is proposed that the Council should participate as observers, or with rights of participation which do not extend to the right to vote, the delegation should join in a consensus to that effect, which they should seek to obtain in preference to a vote. If, however, a vote takes place, they should abstain, referring to our well-known position on the status of the Council for Namibia in explanation of the abstention.
(68)
CONADENTIAL
(b)