U.S. DELAYS ANGOLA REBEL AID TO FOSTER TALKS ON CUBANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900060-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: December 10, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000604900060-0
WASHINGTON POST
10 December 1985
U.S. Delays Angola Rebel Aid
3'o Foster Talks on Cubans
~Sy~David B. Ottawav
Washington-PiisrStaff WnWriter
The Reagan administration has
tentatively decided to provide less
ttlan. $30 million as the first install-
ment of a covert aid program to
rebels fighting the Marxist regime
rn Angola, according to administra-
tion sources.
However, disbursement of the
aid has been delayed until at least
January because the State Depart-
ment hopes to use the threat of
U.S. backing for the rebels to pres-
sure the Angolan government into
negotiating the withdrawal of
35,000 Cuban troops in Angola as
part bf a peaceful settlement in
southern Africa, the sources said.
Although a White House official
indicated that no formal authoriza-
tion of covert aid has been issued,
other administration sources said
an informal decision was reached at
an interagency meeting in mid-
November. The program would ini-
tially involve nonlethal aid followed
by military assistance for the Na-
tional Union for the Total Indepen-
dence of Angola (UNITA) led by
Jonas Savimbi, according to one
source.
This source said the Central In-
tellr ence A enc had ro sed
providin an initial ai ro ram of
roughly 15 million. hal_ the . 'tn
million figure circulating in admirr
istratio_n circles. and a small frac-
tion of the $200 million to $300
mrllron suggested by some officials.
Secretary of State George P.
Shultz, according to congressional
sources, has effectively lobbied to
kiil several congressional proposals
for $27 million in either humanitar-
ian assistance or overt military aid.
}~ithin the administration Shultz
has also prevented the last step in
th_e interagency process leading to a
formal presidential findin? in favor
~f co._ ve'id.
Shultz has used the threat ~of U.S.
aid to UNITA to pressure the An-
golan government into further con-
cessions on a withdrawal timetable
for the 35,000 Cuban troops sta-
tioned in Angola. That issue is a key
to U.S. strategy for breaking the
impasse in negotiations for the in-
dependence of neighboring South
African-administered Namibia.
On Nov. 2?-28, Assistant Secre-
tary of State Chester A. Crocker
niek for the first time in five months
with Angolan negotiat sin Lusa
ka, ,,.
Zambia,,ll~ore-~L>;.5.-golan .ta
lks>r~
are ,: pl~nec~".,:.probably taEet~~-t
om-'.:
montlj~= ' ~
; s
Shuttz;'according to..songressi
on-
~1--sources, as s r u use
e
mediate start-uo of covert aid.
,~,
On Frid
th
''
ay,
e secretary told a
-a .
news conference that there had
been "some responsiveness" from
both South Africa and Angola to a
U.S. proposal made last spring on
the issues of Cuban withdrawal and
Namibian independence. But "that
doesn't mean that we're some-
where near a settlement," Shultz
warned.
Nevertheless. even the va ttP
hope of progress aaparently has
been sufficient to fend off Defense
Department and CIA pr ?c .r n
begin immediate covert assistance,
accordin? to sources familiar with
.the debate.
As with covert aid to the rnntra
rebels fightur? the leftist regime in
ffic'aragua, the proposed yid pro-
gram to UNITA has been remark-
ably open for an ostensibly secret
and rtakln?,.In a meetintz with iour-
nalistc on Nov 2 President Rea-
gan sard, "We all believe that a co-
vert operation wou a more use-
ful to us and have more chance of
success ricrht now than the overt
pr~sal that has been made in the
Con ress."
Shultz has finessed his own stand
on this issue in recent public state-
ments by saying he supports "those
who tight for freedom" but opposes
bills in Congress for overt aid to
UNITA because "our desire is to
support them effectively," as he
phrased it last Friday.
The best explanation of what
Shultz believes to be "effective" aid
right now came during an NBC tele-
vision interview Nov. 24.
"We believe that if there can be a
political solution, a negotiated so-
lution, to the problems of Angola as
well as the problem of Namibia,
linked as it is to the difficulties in
southern Africa generally and in
South Africa, that's the way to go
and we're trying to do that," he
sard; ,. ; ~., .,
-. ~? Sfiiit#~~. is': ~el%~~i~;t,~;'sieek- Ciotti
' ~iutli Afr~egn?. Aigolat-.,-suRp~rt.,
for ante-esc~latto~ aE ~Ehe figHtl~ iti
Ptngola, thereby ~w.ent-g ,tie hke=
Irhood of U.S. tn' ' : ~oiith;
Africa's iiew deputyp~ ~~'~~`,:: s
Thursday t}t~t the`Anttolari
--
--- .,., .... ...writ
., ~
Affettsive again5t~ ~1ITA in thy''
neat two or three weeks
. ~
Effortvetiy ~JNITA supporters in,.
Congress? to pass legislation this i
year providing either overt human-
itarian or military aid. to the An-
golan rebels appear to be running
out of steam.
Last Tuesday, the House .Rules
Committee voted against allowing
any amendments, including one call-
ing for $27 million in humanitarian
aid to UNITA, to tbe: omnitws gov-
ernment appropriatiarts bilC
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000604900060-0