ANGOLA, ANGRY OVER REBEL AID ISSUE, ENDS U.S. TALKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630060-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: July 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630060-5
97"
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to Tin New York Timm
WASHINGTON, July 13 ? Angola,
reacting angrily to recent Congres-
sicmal votes, announced today that it
was suspending talks with the United
States for a settlement between Angola
and South Africa.
The announcement, made by the An-
golan Foreign Ministry, seemed to rep-
resent a further setback to the Amer-
ican mediation efforts, which had been
faltering in recent months.
Angola said it was breaking off talks
because of votes to end a nine-year old
ban on American aid to rebels in Ango-
la. The ban is known for its sponsor,
former Senator Dick Clark of Iowa.
"The repeal of the Clark amendment
will leave the U.S. Administration and
international imperialism free to
openly and directly intervene in Angola
and exercise military and political
pressures on the Angolan state," the
Angolan statement said.
The State Department said the
United States had no plans to aid the
rebels or to relax its diplomatic efforts.
U.S. Says Door Remains Open
A State Department spokesman said,
"It is our view that the Angolan state-
ment does not close the door to a negoti-
ated settlement."
The United States has no diplomatic
relations with Angola, but officials
have visited each other's capitals in the
course of the mediation effort.
The United States has been trying to
work out an arrangement by which
South Africa would allow United Na-
tions-supervised independence of
South-West Africa, also known as
Namibia, while the 25,000 Cuban com-
bat troops in Angola would be with-
drawn. Earlier this year a deal was be-
I iev ed near, but recent military moves
by South Africa and the Angolan state-
ment today have raised obstacles.
Despite the Angolan announcement,
the American negotiator, Chester A.
Crocker, who is Assistant Secretary of
State for African affairs, said that the
efforts would continue. He said that if
the Angolans believed that the United
States was reversing course, "they will
be losing an opportunity and evading
key decisions.'
"We intend to maintain our diplo-
matic efforts," he said through an aide.
Clark Amendment Repeal at Issue
The Angolan action followed passage
by the House of Representatives of a
foreign aid bill on Thursday that in-
cluded repeal of the 1976 Clark amend-
ment. The amendment blocked Amer-
ican assistance to the rebel National
Union for the Total Independence of
Angola, known by its initials in Portu-
guese as Unita.
In 1975 and 1976, after Portugal had
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NEW YORK TINES
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- 14 July 1985
r
Angola, Angry Over Rebel Aid Issue,
Ends U.S, Talks
granted Angola independence, the
United States and South Africa aided
the Units movement against the rival
Marxist forces that were aided by the
Soviet Union and Cuba. The Marxists
eventually prevailed and established a
Government in Luanda.
The American aid, provided covertly
through the Central Intelligence Agen-
cy, provoked criticism in Congress,
and the Clark amendment was passed.
Unita continued to receive support
train South Africa, however, and still
controls southeast Angola.
The Senate earlier this year repealed
the Clark amendment as part of a State
Department funding bill. The House
and Senate versions must be reconciled
and signed by the President before the
repeal becomes law, a process that
may take months.
The Reagan Administration has sup-
ported the repeal of the Clark amend-
ment, as has every Administration
since 1976, on the ground that it was an
infringement on executive authority.
Mr. Crocker said, however, that even
if the repeal became law, "there are no
plans" to aid Unita "and no such deci-
sions have been taken."
The Angolan statement today said:
"The repeal of the Clark. amendment
at this particular moment, when the
forces of the racist Pretoria regime
and its Unita puppets are desperately
attempting to destabilize the economy
of the People's Republic of Angola, is
further evidence of the complicity
which has always existed between the
U.S. Administration and the rectionary
and racist Pretoria regime.
"In view of this, the Government of
the People's Republic of Angola has no
other alternative but to suspend the
contudt that it has been maintaining
with emissaries of lite American Gov-
ernment for the analysis of the prob-
lems of the region.
As part of the American mediation
effort, Angola and South Africa pre-
sented peace plans last year. Angola
proposed removing part of the Cuban
force and transferrring those that re-
mained to northern Angola, leaving
vague when all the Cubans would be
withdrawn.
South Africa called for the total with-
drawal of all Cubans almost simulta-
neously with South African withdrawal
from Namibia.
Last March, the United States of-
fered a compromise, but before it could
be acted on, South African military
agents were apprehended by Angola
where they apparently were planning
to blow up an oil installation. After
South Africa raided the capital of Bot-
swana last month, the United States
withdrew its ambassador from South
Africa.
Complicating the situation is the
looming threat of American sanctions
against South Africa. The House and
the Senate have passed differing ver-
sions of bills that would impose eco-
nomic sanctions against South Africa
until it chaliged its .-acial separation
policy of apartheid. the Administra-
tion, arguing that this would only
harden views in South Africa, opposes
sanctions.
111 the House debate last week, some
liberals who opposed repeal of the
Clark amendment said it made no
sense for the Congress, on one hand, to
impose sanctions on South Africa and,
on the other hand, seem to encourage
aid to the South African-supported in-
surgency in Angola.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630060-5