U.S. REACTS ANGRILY TO SOUTH AFRICA'S RAID NEAR OIL PLANT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504850047-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: May 25, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504850047-2
WASHINGTON POST
25 May 1985
Angrily
U.S. Reacts
To South Africa's
Raid Near Oil Plank
Explanation of Angolan Foray Demanded
By Don Oberdorfer
Washington Post Staff Writer
foray was "deep displeasure," which
has been made known to the Pre-
toria government.
Other officials expressed conster-
nation about what appeared to be
"an unfriendly act by a supposedly
friendly [South African] govern-
ment," especially since it could have
sabotaged not only a U.S.-operated
oil installation but also the shaky
southern Africa peace initiative
sponsored by the United States.
U.S. Ambassador Herman Nickel
was instructed to lodge a strong
protest in Pretoria and demand a
full explanation, State Department
sources said. South African Ambas-
sador Bernardus G. Fourie was
summoned to the State Department
for the second straight day to hear
similar representations from senior
officials, the sources said..
The apparent South African
threat to a U.S. installation comes
as sentiment in Congress is becom-
ing increasingly hostile to South Af-
rica and to the administration's
"constructive engagement" policy of
working closely with the Pretoria
government to seek regional peace
and amelioration of the apartheid
system.
As South Africa sent a message
to Angola requesting an urgent
meeting to arrange return of the
An angry Reagan administration
demanded yesterday that South Af-
rica explain why two of its comman-
dos were killed and another cap-
tured in northern Angola Tuesday
night only 300 yards from an Amer-
ican-operated Gulf Oil Co. facility.
State Department spokesman
Edward Djerejian said the U.S. re-
action to the South African military
bodies of two commandos reported
killed and a third commando cap-
tured, Washington Post special cor
respondent Allister Sparks reported
strong criticism of the military ac-
tion across a broad spectrum of
South African political opinion. , .-
The rightist Conservative Party,,.
hawkish on defense, accused the.
government of bungling and of giv-
ing the South African Defense
Force a bad name. Liberal spokes-
men, meanwhile, questioned the
government's claim that its troops
were seeking information about
guerrilla bases, noting that the oil-
processing enclave of Cabinda in
the far north is an improbable place
for such bases.
In the message to the Angolan
government, released in Pretoria,
South African Foreign Minister
Roelof F. (Pik) Botha justified the
incursion on grounds that "South
African security forces have felt it
necessary to gather intelligence on
the activities of the ANC lAfrican
National Congress and SWAPO
South-West Africa People's Or an-
ization terrorists in Angola and to
take a ropriate counteraction."
An Angolan De tense mistry
communique called the South Af-
rican intruders "saboteurs" rather
than intelligence-gatherers, and
said they were caught "trying to de-
stroy" the oil installation jointly
owned by the Angolan government
and Gulf Oil. The communique said
the South Africans were armed
with land mines, incendiary shells
and boxes of powerful explosives as,
well as personal weapons.
Reports reaching the State De-
partment said the South African
commandos were caught by An-
golan military forces only about 300
yards outside the Gulf Oil com-
pound, where several dozen Amer-
icans along with Europeans work
and are housed. Some local employ-
es of the oil installation are re-
ported to have heard the gun battle,
which took place late Tuesday af-
ternoon Angola time.
The Cabinda facility produces
about 170,000 barrels a day of
crude oil from offshore valued at
more than $4 million. The pro-
ceeds, divided almost equally be-
tween Angola and Gulf, are the fi-
nancial mainstay of the Marxist
government in Luanda.
The State Department spokes-
man said the U.S. government
views "most seriously any effort
from any source which would have
the effect of placing in danger Gulf
Oil employes or property in
Cabinda." Djerejian said the United
States had "no knowledge of the
possibility of any South African mil-
itary operation in Cabinda" until the
announcements after the clash.
"The United States deplores the
presence of South African intelli-
gence operations inside Angola as
contrary to the aims of its diploma-
cy and the achievement of peace in
the region," the State Department
spokesman said. Among other
things, he said, the operations are
contrary to the Lusaka accords. to
which the United States is a party,
calling for South African withdrawal
from Angola.
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504850047-2