United Nations Security Council resolution 629, adopted unanimously on 16 January 1989, after recalling resolutions 431, 435 and 628, the Council noted that the parties to the Brazzaville Protocol agreed that 1 April 1989 be established as the date of the South African withdrawal from Angola and therefore lead the way to the independence of Namibia. The Council emphasised its position to hold free and fair elections under the supervision of the United Nations in Namibia in accordance with Resolution 435; as a first step, it requested the Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar to arrange a formal ceasefire between the South West Africa People's Organization and South Africa, calling upon the latter to reduce its police forces in Namibia with a view to balance the remainder with the monitoring United Nations Transition Assistance Group. The resolution asked all parties to impartially implement the resolution, for the Secretary-General to report back at the earliest possible date on developments since the adoption of the current resolution, to investigate cost-saving measures, further asking Member States to consider what assistance they could provide to the newly independent Namibia.

Resolution 629, with the breakdown of the bi-polar system in the Council, was drafted by the five permanent members of the Security Council, illustrating a shift in governance which allowed the permanent members to consult informally outside the Council chambers on a wide range of issues. Internal resistance to South African apartheid List of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 601 to 700 Namibian War of Independence Resolutions 632, 640 and 643 South Africa Border War South Africa under apartheid United Nations Commissioner for Namibia Works related to United Nations Security Council Resolution 629 at Wikisource Text of the Resolution at undocs.org

Locoweed is a common name in North America for any plant that produces swainsonine, a phytotoxin harmful to livestock. Worldwide, swainsonine is produced by a small number of species, most in three genera of the flowering plant family Fabaceae: Oxytropis and Astragalus in North America, Swainsona in Australia; the term locoweed refers only to the North American species of Oxytropis and Astragalus, but this article includes the other species as well. Some references may list Datura stramonium as locoweed. Locoweed is palatable to livestock, some individual animals will seek it out. Livestock poisoned by chronic ingestion of large amounts of swainsonine develop a medical condition known as locoism and pea struck. Locoism is reported most in cattle and horses, but has been reported in elk and deer, it is the most widespread poisonous plant problem in the western United States. Agricultural Research Service and New Mexico State University scientists have been collaborating since 1990 to help solve the problem that locoweed presents to livestock farmers.

The research involved identifying the fungal species that produces the locoweed toxins, pinpointing levels of toxicity in animals once they have ingested locoweed, observing the effects of locoweed toxins on livestock’s reproduction and grazing preferences, etc. Together, the scientists assembled a grazing management scheme to help farmers avoid the poisonous locoweed. Most of the 2000 species of Astragalus, including many that are known as locoweeds, do not produce swainsonine; some species, including a few that produce swainsonine, accumulate selenium. This has led to confusion between swainsonine selenium poisoning due to this genus; the first technical account of locoism was published in the United States. Linguists have documented locoism in use among English speakers by 1889, both loco and locoweed in use by 1844. Loco, a loanword from Spanish, is understood by most English-speaking users in the sense of crazy, this appears to have been the sense understood by vaqueros. In Spanish, loco has an older, different sense.

In Spain, where the native Astragalus species are not known to cause locoism, for centuries loco has been applied to some of these species in the sense of rambling: common names include yerba loca and chocho loco. Locoweed is a compound of weed. Although some authors claim it is incorrect to use loco as a noun, this usage has a long history; the presence of a toxin in locoweed was demonstrated in 1909. The toxin was reported to be barium, but, soon disproved. Swainsonine, first isolated from Swainsona, was shown to be responsible for pea struck in 1979, was reported in both Oxytropis and Astragalus in 1982. Since 1982, swainsonine has been isolated from still more plants, some of which are reported to cause locoism or medical conditions similar to locoism; the first report of locoism in South America, involving Astragalus pehuenches, was published in 2000. Swainsonine is produced by a small number of species, including species in several genera of plants and two genera of fungi. Oxytropis is distributed throughout western North America in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.

However, most species of Oxytropis have narrow habitat requirements and within those habitats are abundant only in unusually wet years. The species most encountered by livestock are O. lambertii and Oxytropis sericea. Swainsonine has been found in O. campestris. Some species of Astragalus are referred to as locoweed; these are species which grow in areas with high selenium content in the soil. Swainsonine has been found in: A. earlei A. mollissimus A. pubentissimus A. lentiginosis A. wootoni A. nothoxys A. tephrodes A. humistratus In Argentina, locoism was first reported in 2000. A flock of sheep grazing 220 sheep died. Although this was the first report of locoism in South America, swainsonine had been isolated from A. pehuenches and several other species in Argentina and Peru. In the Old World, native plants causing locoism have not been reported. Astragalus lusitanicus in Morocco was suspected, but has been shown be neither a producer of swainsonine nor an accumulator of selenium, its toxicity is suspected to be due to a novel alkaloid.

In Australia, species of Swainsona that cause pea struck include: S. luteola S. greyana S. galegifolia Astragalus and Oxytropis are 2 of 20 genera in the tribe Galegeae, subtribe Astragalinae. Some authorities include Swainsona in the subtribe. Swainsona was in another subtribe, combined into Astragalinae. Swainsonine has been isolated from Sida carpinifolia and Ipomoea carnea, both species have been reported to cause locoism. Embellisia, a fungus isolated from Oxytropis lambertii, has been shown to produce swainsonine and to cause locoism in rats. Rhizoctonia leguminicola, a fungal plant pathogen that may occur on red clover produces swainsonine. Although intoxication due to this fungus resembles locoism, it has additional signs and symptoms due to the production of other toxins. Locoweed is eaten during the early spring a