The World - News from Aug. 24, 1989

The Namibian guerrilla movement acknowledged that it had tortured political prisoners but invited foreign observers to verify its claim that all such inmates now are free. Hidipo Hamutenya, spokesman for the South-West Africa People’s Organization, said in Windhoek that the group will allow the International Red Cross, Amnesty International and the United Nations to inspect sites in Angola and Zambia where dissidents and suspected spies were detained. Hamutenya said the guerrilla group in May released all 201 prisoners in its custody as part of the U.N.-sponsored plan to bring independence to Namibia next year after 74 years of South African rule. Former detainees have said the group still holds as many as 2,000 additional prisoners in underground cells.