POTENTIAL IN ANGOLA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 30, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Approved For Release 2007/06/22 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140003-6
ARTICLE AP EARED
C "I PAGE
By Tom Wicker
NEV YORK Tfl4ES
30 JUNE 1978
have been menacing each other; both '
need all the outside assistance they t
can get; and there lie the elements of
an arrangement beneficial to all &_ un-
less less the Caner Administration is
`Administration desire to re-enter the- blinded to its own advantage because I
Angolan civil war on. the side. of_the...' the Angolan Government is "Marxist"
Ambassador Donald McHenry has ? ? rebels.. He. had never had such an in- and supported by the Cubans. - !
returned from an unofficial mission to tention; the. President said, and. his If better American-Angolan:rela_
Angola that recognized efforts by the.' "impression" ' was that Mr. -Turner tions, including American aid, could
Angolan Government to seek an alter was only exploring "what involvement be developed, Angola might be deci-
native to its dependence on Cuban and. would bepossiblein?Angola." - =? -=- sive in getting negotiations back on-
Soviet assistance. The.. mission- thus.-- But the fact is that. Mr. Turner as. track between. South Africa and
represented a? welcome affirmation of sured Senator Clark that he had been. S.W.A.P.O., the :liberation organza
common-sense. policy toward: Africa.:- directed :.by . theme National Security- tion in Namibia__ Angola is' its most
and of Secretary of State Vance's low.,--': Council to present the written proposal " vital supporter, and it was into Angola
key approach to Soviet and Cuban-ad ==' to. the Senator - although he insisted that South Africa launched the recent
venturisma j : Mn; Carter hhimself knew. nothing. of attack on S. W.A.P.O.. guerrillas that
While MriMcHenry was conferring the plan. broke up the negotiations: "-`
in Luanda?A =t The conflict=between Mr, Carter's- '.'A peaceftil settlement in Namibia,
gostinho Neto,. the Ango.~,: in its turn, could have useful effect on
Ian President,r was-. in: Guinea-Bissau.; .; and, MrOTurner's statements. leaves
can effort. to .work
pursuing renewed contact with Porru-,> two possibilities. Either Mr. Carter in ;the, British-Am. ri
gal, formerly Angola's colonial: mas.-. fact knew of the arms-to-Angola plan ;out a genuine majority government in
ter- That, too, is part of the Neto Gov.: ` -and. is. now ducking responsibility, Rhodesia one that would' include'
ernment's. efforts to- broaden its.?as ; ' whictilsbad enough- or else he doesn't black opposition- forces now organized
sociations and support. And' some re know.'whathis own National Security ;.into the Patriotic .Front: Information
ports say"Angolan officials told Mr. ' ' Council is proposing to high-ranking din Washington. suggests that chances
McHenry' they would try to prevent senators, which is downright scary ... .for such a government may be improv-
another. invasion by Katangese rebels-. _ Either way, Mr. McHenry's mission -ing, for two reasons:
of Zaire's Shaba province. evidence that Mr. Carter has at least 9The Front probably will control too .
temporarily rejected the notion" - much of Rhodesia for the interim gov-
ises qur:: Mt;Iienry's mtsden alsos_` widelycredited to ZbigniewBrzezinski"
ernment to be able to conduct its
raises questions about. President Car;';- _of bolstering the Angolan guerrillas. promised elections next December_ . ttr's real :atttntde.= pattiatlari ec_ to- the-point where-they-would ''tie qBY entering that interim govern.
light of the?puz urn approach of Diree~: down" the 20,000 Cuban troops in that ment with the white Prime Minister;
for Stanfield Turner of the Central Tn:
telligence*:.Agency- to. Senator. Dick;'' country- Theoretically,-. that.: might -Ian Smith, 'Bishop Abel Muzorewa,
once Rhodesia's most important black
~-- Clark of Iowa.'a.few: weeks: ago.-Mr. prevent. the. Cubans. from om intervening leader, has lost much of his ban troo . to,
them with "their own Vietnam";
arms'
cretiy supplying .American _.a likely it would only align the
through a third coimiry,.to guesrillas:? but more y Y trying'to bring down the New Govern-- United States inevitably with South
-meni: Africa against the Cubans and black
:At his news conference this-week,,'.Africans,. - with . disastrous.. conse
Mr.. Carter said be "didn't have. any, - quences in Rhodesia and Namibia as
idea" at the time that Mr. Turner had well as Angola.
--approached Mr. Clark with a proposal: ' The. influential President `Julius..
that the Senator took. as indicatinan- g of Tanzania, speaking earlier
$ this .week" on. ABC's "Issues and. An-
- " swers;"expressed himself as. 'very
pleased.".wittt the McHenry mission:.
and hewenr so far as. to. suggest that..:
the Cubans. would:. quickly, withdraw
from Angola if.Namibia=which bor
dens- Angola, won- its independence
from South Africa, if the latter country
ceasedto threaten Angola, and if Zaire.
were no longer a base for border-incur-;
lions into Angola.
Mr_ Carter obviously'doesn't accept
that view-, -instead, he spoke at' his
news conference of persuading-Angola..
and Cuba to cease threatening Zaire,
-as he maintains they did in the recent.
Shaba invasion. Reliable information.
is also available.ia,Washington tosug-
gest that-the Cubans prop up Angola in_';
more than the military-sense; if they
were to. withdraw anytime- soon, it's
said, they would take with them virtu-
ally all the' professional expertise in
'Angola-what little health care there
is, for example, and the ability to oper- -
ate port facilities:
Approved For Release 2007/06/22 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140003-6