SENATORS GET ASSURANCES ON ANGOLA REBELS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870029-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: March 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870029-6
V
WASHINGTON POST
6 March 1986
the rebels fighting the Sandinista
go~vernment~~Aicaragua.
"One option is to simply discon.
tinue public discussion and let the
administration make the decision
unilaterally of going ahead with the
covert program [in Angola]. Frank-
ly, I think they should go ahead and
do it," McConnell said.
The United States called upon
the Angolan government yesterday
to seize the offer made Tuesday by
South Africa to begin steps Aug. 1
for the holding of independence
elections in neighboring Namibia
Senators Get
Assurances on
Angola Rebels
Effective' Anns Aid
Set, Shultz Says
By trick E. TvIeL ?
and David ttawav ?
wunne Psis tff wi._e"
o
ex-
request for $100 million in covert changes on regional disputes Wash-
miitary and humanitarian aid for in
t^.
d M
..... ----J . _ , .
y so sat there was some of State Chester A. Crocker yester-
uncertainty whether the resolution day began a new round of regional
could c ear t e nate Foreign Re- talks with Soviet counterpart
lations Committee r the ad- Vladilin Vasev in Geneva. The
ministration is battling to save its meeting is one in a series
f
appropnate party because oppo- __ plans for talks with Angolan offi-
Ntion to it in the Select Committee cials.
on Intelligence had dimm hed. Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary
Tho a d
Secretary of State George P.
Shultz succeeded yesterday in as-
suring a group of senators led by
Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-
Kan.) that the administration has
decided to send "effective" weapons
to the anticommunist guerrilla
movement fighting the Marxist
government in Angola, according to
several participants.
After a 70-minute meeting be-
tween Shultz and a dozen senators,
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kan.) said
he was satisfied by the secretary's
briefing on administration plans for
aid to Jonas Savimbi's forces.
"I told Secretary Shultz ... that
I'm reasonably convinced that ef-
fective assistance can be provided
to Jonas Savimbi and that it can be
done without affirmative action by
the Congress," McConnell said.
Several senator sources said theme
felt that an administration request
for a reso apprd-mg i cove
ai for vim was no ner
g
an
os.
provided Angola agrees to a time-
table for the withdrawal of Cuban
troops from its territory.
Calling the South African an-
nouncement "a significant and pos-
itive step," State Department
spokesman Bernard Kalb said an
"enormous opportunity" had been
created for a breakthrough in the
long-stalled, U.S.-sponsored nego-
tiations between Angola and South
Africa over the intertwined issues
of a Cuban troop withdrawal and
Namibian independence.
Some congressional sources ex-
presses skepticism at the a min
tration's claim that the opportunity
exists for rap movement" toward
a settlement and some were con-
cerned that the State partment
i g using the ut scan
announcement as a pretext for de-
laying covert aid for Savimbi.
Ra said t e a ministration was
sending Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State Frank G. Wisner to the re-
gion to consult with various govern-
ments on the South African propos-
al. But a State Department source
said Wisner still had no definite
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870029-6