U.S. WEIGHS ANGOLAN REBEL AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504940004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504940004-7
U.S. Weighs
olan
Rebel Aid
Resumption Is Urged
To Show Resolve
Against Communism
By David B. Ott
on gaff Writer
The Reagan administration is in
the midst of a major policy review
to decide whether to resume U.S.
military aid to noncommunist guer-
rillas fighting Angola's Marxist gov-
ernment, according to congression-
al and intelligence sources.
The review has touched off an
acrimonious interagency debate
that pits the administration's global
strategists, intent upon showing
U.S. resolve against the growing
Soviet and Cuban military role in
An ola against its "regionalists,"
ARTICLE AP.?JAREO
ON PAGE -dI
WASHINGTON POST
16 October
way to determine the Soviet role,.
ifitentions and prospects in Angola,
according' to- intelligence and con-
gressional sources.
At issue is whether the United
States should provide either mili-
tary or humanitarian aid to the non-
communist National Union for the
Total Independence of Angola
(UNITA) led by Jonas Savimbi,
whose guerrillas fighting in south-
ern Angola have recently been un-
der heavy pressure from the Soviet-
supplied and Cuban-aided forces of
the Marxist government. A subsid-
iary question is whether this aid
should be provided through covert
or overt U.S. channels.
Earlier this month, sources said
bot t e entagon seemed
rt military aid slm:~ar
Co _fayor 'cove_
1985
to ?e' f being given to the rebels in
g studied is the possible imposi-
tioIof3 trade embargo, affecting either U.S.
exports.to Angola, the importation of Angolan
oiL er bath, a step being urged on the admin-
istratidt by conservative Republican groups
like the Conservative Caucus and the Amer-
ican Security Council.
According to government sources,the
g
who fear U.S. aid to the guerrillas ,
will end U.S. efforts to negotiate a
peaceful settlement to the dispute
over Namibia, or Southwest Africa.
The debate takes place amid ad-
ministration preparations' for the
Nov. 19-20 summit between Pres-
ident Reagan and Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev, and a number
of policy-makers are arguing that
now is the time for Washington to
send a strong message to Moscow
about the U.S. resolve not only to
help noncommunist guerrilla forces
in Angola but elsewhere in the
world.
In addition, they are arguing that
Gorbachev is behind recent offen-
sives by Soviet-allied governments
ittAfghanistan, Nicaragua and Ethi-
against noncommunists fight-
ing in those countries and that,"
United States must respond to bol-
ster its position going into the sum-
1976 Congress Dassed to Clark amend-
ment, which was sponsored by then-Sen. Dick
.U .,o.t
m eery aid to Angolan rebels.
That atnendment was repealed by Con-
gress last July, opening the way for the de-
bate now going on inside the administration
over whether to resume aid to UNITA.
Supporters of a renewed American involve-
ment on the side of UNITA say there may be
less congressional opposition this time be-
cause of Soviet and Cuban involvement in
Angola and the fact that the United States
has never had diplomatic- relations with the
Marxist Angolan government. In addition,
State Department efforts to negotiate a so-
lution to the Namibia dispute, or a withdrawal
of Cuban troops from Angola, have been un-
successful.
opponents of such a policy say an open
U.S. alignment with UNITA will inevitably
draw Washington into a closer alliance with
white-ruled South Africa, UNITA's most im-
portant source of support, and undermine the
administration's efforts to pressure Pretoria
to reform its apartheid system. South Africa
is presently the main supplier of arms and the
conduit for other outside military aid to
ITA. (n,Tta-), chairman of
les Committee, , introduced a bill
Ru
earlier this month authorizing the U.S. gov-
ernment to provide up to $27 million in hu-
manitarian aid only to UNITA, and Sen. Steve
Symms (R-Idaho) is "seriously thinking" about
sponsoring a similar bill-in the Senate, accord-
ing to an aide.
"We're waiting for word from the White
House," an aide to Pepper said. "We feel
there will be significant developments in a
matter of days."
Savimbi has asked the United States for
military aid, though he has not submitted any
written request to Washington yet, according i
to Jeremias K. Chitunda, UNITA foreign af-
fairs secretary.
Chitunda said in an interview that UNITA's
top priority right now was antitank and an-
tiaircraft weapons to counter the Angolan
government's Mig fighters, Hind helicopter
gunships and tanks recently supplied
Soviet Union.
He said $50 million in military aid would be
more useful than $100 million in humanitar-
ian aid. "Humanitarian assistance is just a way
of evading ... the issue ... " he added.
Chitunda asserted that the, Soviets had d - 8
livered $2 billion worth the as it
elL
mef+ths but U .S int p
was more like $1 billion worth since Janes
1984.
nit. Phial fi:1111:11J6111111116, of _1~
At ko t two National Secn'IV17 which were then locked in a three-
Council-chaired meetings have been civd. war and rower s tely
hew, the latest last Friday. In ad, atav Movement
a Special r' tional InteIia ;; y. by lire now rulma Popular
ditloa, f r
g Estimate, a quick in-depth-'. the :iuetation of A.~Roh NIP,I~ In January
study by the various branches of the
intelligence community, is under
the rate Department is said to be L
as velteaen~- 'sine any shift from the
current U.S. poly of no assistance at all.
viding arms is the
"We still don't think pro
way to . do it," said a State Department
spokea:an, adding, "We think negotiations is
the_way out." He was referring to U.S efforts
to resolve through negotiations the twin
problem of the withdrawal of Cuban troops
from Aagola_now said to number as many
as 35,000, up 5.000 from last year-and in-
depeodeoce for South African-administered
Namibla.
An administration decision to ask Congress
for overt assistance is likely to touch off an-
otber Mier debate there similar to the one
over U.s, aid to anticommunist forces, known
as ft "Contras" in Nicaragua.
a ~?bate over U S ~~ ~:~ t?m rd n pica
reek dace in 1975-?6 a Pr ~
that the CIA was secretly funneling more
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504940004-7