PREORIA'S NEW TIES WITH BLACK NEIGHBORS SOUR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201320005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: February 9, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STnT
V Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RD
NEW YORK TIMES
9 February 1985
Pretoria's New Ties With Black
!, Reagan Administration Role
c Sour Neighbors rica's agreements with Angola and
Mozambique and has taken the lead in
By ALAN COWELL
SpedaJ to The New York Times
JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 8 - In
marked contrast to a euphoric mood in
this region less than a year ago, South
Africa's relations with neighboring
black-governed nations appears to
have soured.
Its pacts with these ideological foes,
hailed at the time as a breakthrough in
regional diplomacy, seem to have
brought few and ambiguous benefits to
those nations with which South Africa
concluded the accords.
In the last week, Angola, Botswana
and Zambia have complained in vary-
ing degrees of what they say is South
African aggressiveness, and South Af-
rica has responded caustically to some
the complaints.
while, indicate there has been a widen-
ing of an insurgency that the Marxist
authorities in Maputo hoped to end by
signing a nonaggression pact with
South Africa last March. On Tuesday,
for the first time, a ranking Mozambi-
can official directly accused South Af-
rica of flouting the accord.
Compiex Roots of Complaints
The causes cited for complaint are
complex and vary from nation to na-
tion. In some cases, they seem to re-
flect a diminished sense of the value of
seeking improved relations or dealing
with South Africa, despite continued
economic and other dependency in
black-ruled Africa on this racially
divided nation. .
"We have tried to work together but
it has not borne fruit at all," President
Kenneth D. Kaunda of Zambia was
qucted as saying in a newspaper inter-
view in South Africa Tuesday. "So,
really, what is the basis of being hope-
ful? None at all. We have been expect-
ing something, and that something has
not happened at all because South Af-
rica has not moved in the way we hoped
she would."
Mr: Kaunda, who offered to mediate
last year between South Africa and
black-governed countries in southern
Africa, said the causes of grievance
were the continued presence of South
African troops in Angola, South Af-
rica's continued domination in South-
West Africa and the failure of the non-
aggression treaty between South Af-
rica and Mozambique.
I
Reports from Mozambique, -mean-
Western efforts, so far inconclusive, to
secure the independence of South-West
Africa, which is also known as Namib-
ia. Chester A. Crocker, Assistant Sec-
retary of State for African Affairs ar-
rived in South Africa Thursday night in
what was interpreted here as an effort
to revive the initiatives.
The breakthroughs last year were
hailed in part as a triumph for the Rea- i,
gan Administration's policy of seeking
what it calls "constructive engage-
ment" with South Africa, a policy that
holds that Pretoria is more likely to re-
spond to quiet persuasion than to open
confrontation. j3oth sets of agree-
ments, however had been preceded by
widespread South African military ac-
tion - et er overt or rove?,:st- ozam ioue an Ango-
laAt the time of the agreements, the
enthusiasm among South African and'
Western officials seemed understand-
able. Last February, South Africa and
Angola agreed to set up a joint force to
oversee a South African troop with-
drawal from southern Angola in return
for Angolan curbs on anti-South Africa
insurgents; based there.
Mood of Reconciliation Changes
In March, South Africa and Mozam-
bique agreed to withhold support for
each other's internal foes. Buoyed by
the triumph, P. W. Botha, the South Af-
rican leader who is now President, em-
barked on a tour of Western Europe
that was billed as a victorious emer-
gence from his country's isolation.
There was talk of a tour of African
countries, too. The mood was one of re-
gional reconciliation with South Africa
acknowledged as the superpower.
Since then, the atmosphere has
changed.
This week, South Africa and Angola
exchanged accusations that each was
trying to overthrow the other's Govern-
ment - through South African-backed
insurgents led by Jonas Savimbi who
are fighting in Angola, and through the
South African exile group known as the
African National Congress.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos
of Angola accused South Africa of em-
barking on a "vast destabilization
plan." The charge was seen here as re-
flecting South African suggestions that
pro-Soviet figures had regained as-
cendency in the Luanda leadership.
Exchange Reflects a Stalemate
The South African Foreign Minister,
Roelof F. Botha, responded by acCus-
ing the Angolans of offering training fa-
cilities to the African National Con-
gress and of supporting insurgents
fighting to end South Africa's control of
South-West Africa. He questioned the
legitimacy of the Luanda authorities,
saying free elections had not been held
in Angola since it achieved independ-
ence from Portugal in 1975.
The exchange reflected a stalemate
of longer standing. Under the accord
reacned last February, South African'
troops should now have pulled out of
Angola. But they are still there.
For its part, South Africa accused
the Angolans of failing to hold back the
insurgents of the South-West Africa
People's Organization.
Foreign Minister Botha said at a
news conference in Cape Town last
week that South African officials had
"reliable evidence" that the South-
West African rebels were "gathering in
Angola and preparing for a southward
thrust when more rains start falling."
The wet season has been a time for
insurgent advances because dense
rain-fed foliage provides cover. It has
also been a time of South African
thrusts into Angola to intercept the ad-
vances, but it was not clear whether
Mr. Botha's comments contained an
implicit threat of military action.
The cornerstone of South African re
gional policy last year was so-called
Nkomati accord with Mozambique.
With the widening of the war there, the
accord has brought the Mozambican
President, Samora M. Machel, no tan-
gible benefits. South Africa, by con_
trast, secured a major victory when the
Mozambique expelled members of the
African National Congress under the I
terms of the agreement. But, Mr.
Botha seemed to say last week, th
ere
were ambiguities for south Africa, too.
The Price for South Africa
The insurgency. has cut rail and !
power links between Mozambique and
South Africa, and Foreign Minister
Botha indicated that the hostilities
were causing discomfort.
"It is in our interest that the railway
should operate and be secure," he said.
"It is in our interest that the power line'
from South Africa to Maputo should
carry that power."
The war in Mozambique is being
fought between Government forces and
the Mozambique National Resistance,
of which South Africa was once re-
garded as the main backer. Foreign
Minister Botha denied that South Af-
rica was still supporting the insurgents
and said he was acting as an intermedi-
ary between them and the Government
in peace negotiations.
The rebel army, he said last week,
feels it is near victory and so has pre`
C4Dtliz~ed .~
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201320005-2
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201320005-2
sented peace conditions unacceptable
to President Machel. Mozambique
previously avoided directly accusing
South Africa of continuing to support
the rebels. But this week, in a display of
mounting impatience and perhaps des-
peration, Foreign Minister Joaqufm A.
Chissano asserted that nonobservance
of the Nkomati accord by South Africa
was to blame for the continued fight-
ing.
Pressure on Botswana
Foreign Minister Botha has said un-
identified groups in Europe, Africa and
the Arab world support the rebels.
After the Nkomati agreement was
signed, South Africa was reported to
have brought strong pressure on Bot-
swana and Lesotho to sign similar ac-
cords, but both small countries resist-
ed. The pressure an Botswana now
seems to have been revived with South
African claims that the African Na-
tional Congress is now using Botswana
as a corridor for infiltration.
Earlier this week, Botswana accused
South Africa of planning to invade in a
bizarre alliance with the fragmented
and nominally independent tribal
homeland called Bophuthatswana,
which has little freedom of action be-,
yond the limits set for it by the white,
authorities in South Africa.
On Tuesday, Mr. Botha denied there
was such an invasion plan. But he said'
he had urged the authorities, in Bot- -
swana to reach an understanding about'
how to prevent either country from "
being ' used for the planning or execu-
tion of acts of sabotage or terrorism
against the other."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201320005-2