SENATORS GET ASSURANCES ON ANGOLA REBELS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900051-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 51
• Publication Date: March 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900051-0
WASHINGTON POST
6 March 1986
Senators Get
Assurances on
Angola Rebels
Effective' Arms Aid
Set, Shultz Says.
By Patrick E. Tyler T_
and'DtV_ - ttawaX +
LWa~lycan-- ex_Wri;II
Secretary of State George P.
Shultz succeeded yesterday in as-
suring a group of senators led by
Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-
Kan.) that the administration has
decided to send "effective" weapons
to the anticommunist guerrilla
movement fighting the Marxist
government in Angola, according to
several participants.
After a 70-minute meeting be-
tween Shultz and a dozen senators,
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kan.) said
he was satisfied by the secretary's
briefing on administration plans for
aid to Jonas Savimbi's forces.
"I told Secretary Shultz ... that
I'm reasonably convinced that ef-
fective assistance can be provided
to Jonas Savimbi and that it can be
done without affirmative action by
the Congress," McConnell said.
Several senator sources said they_
n
s on t
e
outh African propos-
for a '111!1103 twn a
pprovmg i cove - al. But a State Department source
ai p or vun was no onger said Wisner still had no definite
appropriate, v use oppo- plans for talks with Angolan offi-
Uon to it in the Select Committee cials.
on me Higence ha diminished. Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary
hey also said there was some of State Chester A. Crocker yester-
uncertamt wh th
h
e er t
e resolurlon
cou rear the Senate oreign Re
-
lations Committee, r the ad
ministration is battlin to save its
r uest for $100 n in covert
ml Lary and humanitarian ai for
the rebels fighting the Sandinista
government _o icaragua.
"One option is to simply discon-
tinue public discussion and let the
administration make the decision
unilaterally of going ahead with the
covert program [in Angola]. Frank-
ly, I think they should go ahead and
do it," McConnell said.
The United States called upon
the Angolan government yesterday
to seize the offer made Tuesday by
South Africa to begin steps Aug. 1
for the holding of independence
elections in neighboring Namibia
provided Angola agrees to a time-
table for the withdraw..: of Cuban
troops from its territory.
Calling the South African an-
nouncement "a significant and pos-
itive step," State Department
spokesman Bernard Kalb said an
"enormous opportunity" had been
created for a breakthrough in the
long-stalled, U.S.-sponsored nego-
tiations between Angola and South
Africa over the intertwined issues
of a Cuban troop withdrawal and
Namibian independence.
Some con essional sources ex-
pre skepticism at the a nums-
tration's claim that the o rtunit
exists or ra movement" toward
a settlement and some were con-
ce that the State Department
mig using t e ut Aican
announcement as a pretext for de-
laying covert aid for Savimbi.
-Mlb said the administration was
sending Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State Frank G. Wisner to the re-
gion to consult with various govern-
me
t
h
S
day began a new round of regional
talks with Soviet counterpart
Vladilin Vasev in Geneva. The
meeting is one in a series of ex-
changes on regional disputes Wash-
ington and Moscow agreed to hold.
V
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900051-0