Upon South Africa's relinquishing control of Namibia, Commissioner Carlsson's role would have been to take over the administration of the country on behalf of the UN, formulate its framework constitution, and organise free and fair elections based upon a non-racial universal franchise.

Later in May, at the Reagan/Gorbachev summit in Moscow (29 May – 1 June 1988), it was decided that Cuban troops would be withdrawn from Angola, and Soviet military aid would cease, as soon as South Africa withdrew from Namibia.

This agreement – known as the Brazzaville Protocol – established a Joint Monitoring Commission (JMC) with the US and the Soviet Union, as observers, to oversee implementation of the accords.

The transition got off to a shaky start, because contrary to SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma's written assurances to the UN Secretary-General to abide by an agreed cease-fire and repatriate from Angola only unarmed Namibians, the South Africans alleged that approximately 2,000 armed members of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), SWAPO's military wing, crossed the border from Angola in an apparent attempt to establish a military presence in northern Namibia.

[4] On 7 April, AG Pienaar announced that he was unilaterally suspending the independence process, but his decision was quickly repudiated by Pik Botha.

[5] On 11 April, he stated, that contrary to previous undertakings, UNTAG and the South African security forces had "agreed that PLAN soldiers would be interrogated in order to verify the suspected number of infiltrators".

On 12 June, AG Pienaar declared a general amnesty against prosecution for all Namibians living abroad, and repealed or amended 46 discriminatory laws.

The South African side opposed the idea, indicating their determination to dominate the constitution-making process and retain control for as long as possible.

In June 1989, Martti Ahtisaari told AG Pienaar that this behaviour was totally inconsistent with the Settlement Proposal, which required the police to be lightly armed.

(According to The Guardian of 26 July 1991, Pik Botha told a press conference that the South African government had paid more than £20 million to at least seven political parties in Namibia to oppose SWAPO in the run-up to the 1989 elections.

Numerous international representatives attended, including 20 heads of state, and the arrival of Nelson Mandela, who had just been released from prison, caused excitement among the 30,000 spectators.

[9] In 1990, on his return to South Africa, Louis Pienaar was nominated to be the Minister of Education in President F W de Klerk's government, where he was to be responsible for the dismantling of the structures of apartheid.