SENATORS GET ASSURANCES ON ANGOLA REBELS

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870029-6
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
December 19, 2011
Sequence Number: 
29
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
March 6, 1986
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870029-6.pdf70.45 KB
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870029-6 V WASHINGTON POST 6 March 1986 the rebels fighting the Sandinista go~vernment~~Aicaragua. "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 Senators Get Assurances on Angola Rebels Effective' Anns Aid Set, Shultz Says By trick E. TvIeL ? and David ttawav ? wunne Psis tff wi._e" o ex- request for $100 million in covert changes on regional disputes Wash- miitary and humanitarian aid for in t^. d M ..... ----J . _ , . y so sat there was some of State Chester A. Crocker yester- uncertainty whether the resolution day began a new round of regional could c ear t e nate Foreign Re- talks with Soviet counterpart lations Committee r the ad- Vladilin Vasev in Geneva. The ministration is battling to save its meeting is one in a series f appropnate party because oppo- __ plans for talks with Angolan offi- Ntion to it in the Select Committee cials. on Intelligence had dimm hed. Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Tho a d 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 theme felt that an administration request for a reso apprd-mg i cove ai for vim was no ner g an os. provided Angola agrees to a time- table for the withdrawal 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 congressional sources ex- presses skepticism at the a min tration's claim that the opportunity exists for rap movement" toward a settlement and some were con- cerned that the State partment i g using the ut scan announcement as a pretext for de- laying covert aid for Savimbi. Ra said t e a ministration was sending Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Frank G. Wisner to the re- gion to consult with various govern- ments on the South African propos- al. But a State Department source said Wisner still had no definite Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870029-6