Vehicle tactical sign : United Nations Transition Assistance Group : (UNTAG), Namibia

White painted rectangular steel tactical sign of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia in 1989-90. A blue square printed plastic label in the centre of the sign shows, in white, the United Nations logo above the word 'UNTAG'. Red primer is present on the reverse face of the sign. There is considerable rust damage to the sign edges and both front and rear paint surfaces. In April 1989, the UN established UNTAG in Namibia, South Western Africa, and to a limited extent in neighbouring countries in order to supervise the return of refugees, the holding of a general election, the withdrawal of South African forces and Namibia's transition to independence.

This sign was carried on an Australian Army Unimog truck whilst on deployment with the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia during 1989-1990. The United Nations (UN) established UNTAG in Namibia and Angola to ensure the early independence of Namibia through free and fair elections under the supervision and control of the United Nations. UNTAG was also to help the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to ensure that: all hostile acts were ended; troops were confined to base, and, in the case of the South African troops, ultimately withdrawn from Namibia; all discriminatory laws were repealed, political prisoners were released, Namibian refugees were permitted to return, intimidation of any kind was prevented and law and order were impartially maintained.

The Australian Contingent of UNTAG consisted of 613 personnel, the majority of which were Army Engineers from 17 Construction Squadron. The contingent also included one RAAF officer, a five man Military Police Detachment and a three man Signals Detachment. An advance party of 70 personnel left Australia for Namibia on 9 March 1989 arriving on 11 March. The main body of the Australian contingent arrived on April 14. A second contingent of troops flew out for Namibia on 5 September. From 26 October to 20 November 1989, the Australian Electoral Commission provided an electoral organisation expert and 27 electoral supervisors -the Australian Federal Police contributed a fingerprint expert in order to assist in the conduct of the general election held from 7 to 11 November. The election chose the 72 delegates to the Constituent Assembly and saw a voter turn-out of 97 per cent. UNTAG monitored the balloting and the counting of votes. On 14 November, the Representative for Namibia declared that the elections had been free and fair. The South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) obtained 41 Assembly seats. The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance obtained 21 seats, and five smaller parties shared the remaining 10.

By 22 November 1989, South Africa's remaining troops had left Namibia. The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 21 November to draft a new Constitution, which was unanimously approved on 9 February 1990. On 16 February the Assembly elected SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma as President of the Republic for a five-year term. Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990. On that day, in Winhoek, the United Nations Secretary-General administered the oath of office to Namibia's first President. The last of the Australian UNTAG contingent left for Australia on 9 April 1990. On 23 April 1990, Namibia became the 160th Member of the United Nations.