CASTRO CALLS U.S. UNFIT TO MEDIATE IN AFRICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180014-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: May 30, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-
1
ARTICLE AFFAkM
ON PAGE A? c2a
R D P90-00965 R000201180014-8
WASHINGTON POST
30 May 1985
Castro Calls U.S. Unfit.
To Mediate in Africa
Says Cuban Troops Will Remain in Angola
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
ISLE OF YOUTH, Cuba, May
29-President Fidel Castro sharply
criticized U.S. mediation in south-
ern Africa today, charging that the
Reagan administration is an "ally" of
South Africa and therefore unfit to
serve as go-between with Angola.
Addressing 600 youths here from
Namibia, the Cuban leader said that
.,not a single Cuban soldier will be
withdrawn from Angola until con-
crete steps" are taken to carry out
United Nations Resolution 435,
which spells out a U.N.-supervised
transition to independence for the
South African-ruled territory. And
if more soldiers were needed, he
said, Cuba would send more.
Castro's remarks demonstrated
his evident irritation at the capture
last week of a South African com-
mando team that he said was trying
to sabotage U.S.-owned oil instal-
lations in Angola's Cabinda enclave.
The sharp tone also reflected of-
ficial Cuban anger at the start-up 10
days ago of Radio Marti,a U.S. gov-
ernment broadcasting facility beam-
ing news and commentary specif-
ically at the Cuban people. ,
But despite the tone of his com-
ments, Castro did not quite -close
the door to cooperation with the
U.S.-led effort to mediate an agree-
ment between South Africa and An-
gola.
Castro said last February that he
was prepared to cooperate in the
U.S.-led mediation effort, which
would link independence for Nami-
bia to withdrawal of about 20,000 of
the Cuban troops that have been
helping the Marxist government of
Angola fight South African-backed
guerrillas. About 10,000 Cuban sol-
diers remaining behind under the
agreement would be concentrated
in the Angolan capital, Luanda, and
in other northern points, including
the Cabinda oil fields, where Gulf
Oil produces about 150,000 barrels
a day, he added then.
Castro's statements today, with
United Nations Secretary General
Javier Perez de Cuellar looking on
silently, appeared to indicate a
hardened posture on the possibility
of pulling out the Cuban troops.
"There will be no solution in
southern Africa without Resolution
435 and without the independence
of Namibia," he declared. "Through
Angola have passed 200,000 Cu-
bans and, if necessary, 200,000
more Cubans will pass through
there."~,
The recent developments in Af-
rica have combined with the begin-
nings of Radio Marti to dash an im-
pression here during the last six
months that there was a- possibility
of lessening tensions with the Unit-
ed States in President Reagan's
second term, Cuban and other Latin
American diplomats said.
Two days before today's address,
for example, the official Communist
Party newspaper Granma published
aiS unusually long front-page edito-
rial saying the "U.S.-South African
axis" is composed of a pair of "free-
booters"-language of a tone the
official Cuban media had avoided
since the beginning of the year,
these diplomats added.
,Castro seized on the theme with
his customary' gusto as he spoke
here today at the Hendrick Witbooi
secondary school for Namibian
youths affiliated with the Southwest
Africa People's Organization
(SWAPO), fighting for the indepen-
dence of the South African-ruled
territory that lies between South
Africa and Angola.
: Castro visited the installation on
this island just off Cuba escorting
Perez de Cuellar, who is on a four-
day official visit to Cuba.
: U.N. Security Council Resolution
415 underpins efforts by the Rea-
gpn administration to foster an
agreement between South Africa
and Angola, which has offered ref-
uge to SWAPO forces fighting
South African control over the ter-
r1tory.
The Reagan administration also
has sought to link the agreement to
withdrawal of Cuban troops from
Angola.
After refusing the attempt at
lipkage over several years, the An-
golan government announced last
November that it would agree to a
phased withdrawal of 20,000 Cuban
soldiers from southern Angola over
three years. In return, South Africa
would pull out of Namibia, grant the
territory independence and stop aid
to the guerrillas of Jonas Savimbi's
National Union for the Total Inde-
pendence of Angola (UNITA).
:In his comments here today, Cas-
tro, after recounting the South Af-
rican commandos' capture in
Cabinda, ridiculed South African
and American statements on the
subject and implied President Rea-
gan was lying along with President,
P.W. Botha of South Africa.
"They never tell the truth-nei-
ther Reagan nor Botha," he said.
"Not even by accident. I am waiting
for the day when they will make a
mistake and, by accident, actually
tell the truth."
:Botha's government has main-
tained that the commandos were on
a reconnaissance mission. The
United States last week expressed.
concern over the operation.
I
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180014-8