BILL TO FORCE HEARINGS ON SAVIMBI AID PASSES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302490024-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: April 23, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302490024-9
WASHINGTON TIMES
23 April 1986
Bill to force hearings
on Savimbi aid passes
By Thomas D. Brandt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The bill was sent to the full House
Foreign Affairs Committee, which is
scheduled to vote on the measure
A bill that would force the White today.
House to submit plans for U.S. aid for Existing law requires that Mr.
military or paramilitary operations Reagan notify the intelligence com-
in Angola to Congress for open pub- mittees of the Senate and House be-
lic debate and vote was approved by fore providing covert aid to foreign
a House subcommittee yesterday. insurgents. But there is no re-
"Simply stated," said Rep. Robert quirement that such covert aid be
Dornan, a California Republican submitted to a congressional vote.
who voted against the bill, the bill The chairman of the Africa panel,
"takes away the president's author- Rep. Howard Wolpe, Michigan
ity to assist anti-communist forces in Democrat, said U.S. aid to Mr.
Angola through covert means." Savimbi would be "playing directly
The Reagan administration has into the hands of the Soviets and the
been widely reported as providing Cubans" by forcing Angola to rely on
$15 million in "covert" assistance t them more.
a rebel group of 20,000 to 25,000, le ML-Hamilton - who is chairman
by Jonas Savimbi, that is seeking t of theetnntpiligpnj mmitta
overthrow the Marxist governmen which oversees covert operations -
of Angola. said yesterday that th fQrei2
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lee po is im ication of T.S. in-
Hamilton, Indiana Democrat, was volvement in the Angolan civil war
approved on a 6-4 vote by the Africa is so great that Congress needs t
subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs involved in t the decision making.
Committee. The bill "simply requires the
president to follow normal proce-
dures in dealing with the Congress
on an issue with major foreign policy
ramifications," Mr. Hamilton said.
The intelligence panel voted 10-6
for tons i in March.
Rep. Mark Siljander, Michigan
Republican, opposed the Hamilton
bill, which he said has little chance
of clearing both houses of Congress,
and would certainly be vetoed by
President Reagan if it did.
Last July the House voted 236-185
to repeal the 1976 Clark
Amendment, which had prohibited
assistance of any kind to Angolan
rebel forces.
Mr. Hamilton said that since that
vote the Reagan administration
made a decision to involve the
United States in the Angolan
fighting and has made that support
publicly known. He says it is now a
major foreign policy issue that
should be debated by Congress if it
is to be "politically sustainable in the
long run" in the United States.
However Rep. Dan Burton, Indi-
ana Republican, said "the House of
Representatives has been a perma-
nent stumbling block to stopping So-
viet expanionism" in efforts like the
Hamilton bill.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302490024-9