REAGAN TO OFFER ANGOLAN REBELS MORAL BACKING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630021-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: January 26, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630021-8
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE I
Reagan to Offer
Angolan Rebels
Moral Backing
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to Tb. New York Thom
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 ? The Rea-
gan Administration has decided to seek
a joint Congressional resolution to pro-
vide the anti-Communist rebels in An-
gola with moral support, Administra-
tion and Congressional sources said to-
day. At the same time, they said, the
Administration will oppose legislation
giving the rebels military or economic
aid,
With Jonas Savimbi, the head of the
leading rebel group in Angola, due in
Washington next week to seek military
aid, Secretary of State George P.
Shultz outlined the Administration's
latest approach for the first time in an
interview on Friday night.
The goal of the policy, aides said to-
day, is to show sympathy for the Ango-
lan rebels while keeping alive Amer-
ican efforts to bring about a diplomatic
settlement in southern Africa, which
might be jeopardized by outright aid.
The Angolan rebels have Wide back-
ing among American conservatives.
In the interview in his seventh-floor
office at the State Department, Mr.
Shultz made these other points:
The latest Soviet arms control pro-
posals, as amplified at the negotiations
in Geneva, have "a lot of problems"
but indicate that "potentially we're in a
possibly productive phase."
9No date has been set for the second
summit meeting between Mr. Reagan
and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet
leader, which is to take place in the
United States. Mr. Shultz said the Ad-
ministration wanted to hold the talks
no later than July to avoid conflicts
with August vacations and the fall elec-
tion campaign. The Russians have not
responded officially, he said, but pri-
vately some Soviet diplomats have said
the fall would be preferable.
41" Progress has been made" in ar-
ranging Middle East peace talks in-
volving Israel and Jordan, although the
two major issues ? which Palestinians
would take part ana the format for the
negotiations ? "remain difficult." Mr_
Shultz said the prospects had been en-
hanced by recent discussions in Europe
by Richard W. Murphy, the Assistant
Secretary of State for Near Eastern
and South Asian affairs, with King Hus
sein of Jordan and Prime Minister
Shimon Peres of Israel.
eThe pending sale of nearly $2 billion
in military equipment to Jordan is
"very much in the national interest of,
the United States," although Mr. ShultZ
said he knew "full well" that many in'
NEW YORK TIMES
26 January 1986
Congress do not want to proceed with
the sale until peace talks with Israeli
begin. Indicating that the sale, due to
go ahead on March 1, might be put off,
Mr. Shultz said that "we want to win"
if there is a vote in Congress, "so we're
struggling with the problem."
it is proper for the United States to
strike at military targets in countries
supporting terrorism, even if the target
has no direct connection with a particu-
lar terrorist act. "I think we're devel-
oping our kit bag of tools," Mr. Shultz
' said, "and increasingly, I sense a,
readiness to use those tools when we
find the appropriate occasion."
Goals in Southern Africa
Mr. Shultz has been seeking an effec-
tive way to show support for Mr.
Savimbi's rebel group which the Ad-.1
ministration recently called "a legiti
mate nationalist movement" ? wi
out compromising American efforts
achieve a diplomatic solution betw
Angola and South Africa.
Such an accord, as envisaged by
Washington, would lead to the ind
pendence of South-West Africa,
as Namibia, and the withdrawal of
30,000 Cuban troops from Angola along
with the pullback of South Afri
forces from Namibia. South Africa con-
trols Namibia in defiance of United Na
tions resolutions.
Conservatives in Congress, in ad-
vance of Mr. Savimbi's arrival, have
proposed military and economic aid
packages for his group, the National
Union for the Total Independence of
Angola, commonly called Unita.
, The White House has talked of a pos-
sible covert military program for
IUnita, despite opposition in Congress.
Mr. Shultz indicated that he believed
that for the diplomatic efforts to suc-
ceed, the United States had to have "a
strong position," meaning a show of
support for Mr. Savimbi.
A Congressional aide said Mr. Shultzl
had beenlooluna into the Possibility QL
covert military aid with the intelli-
gence committees in Congress and had
found considerable opposition from tht
committee leaders.
Congressional aides said Mr. Shultz,
believed that it was important for Mr.
Savimbi to receive strong public back-
ing here, even if he left without any aid
commitments. During his visit Mr.
Savimbi is scheduled to meet with Mr.
Reagan, Mr. Shultz And key members
of Congress and LO appear at public ?
meetings and on television.
Pretoria's Role Is a Factor
Mr. Savimbi's group is supported
militarily and economically by South
Africa. One of the objections raised in
Congress to aid to Mr. Savimbi is that it
would be regarded as backing for the
Pretoria Government and apartheid. ,
Mr. Shultz acknowledged that he op- I
posed legislation extending military or
economic aid to Unita because it would -
not promote a diplomatic solution. "I
think it would be well," Mr. Shultz said,
"if Congress expressed itself in a gen-
eral way, without any particular, pre-
cise commitment, but just in the gen-
eral nature of what they support ? in-
cluding support for seeing a sensible
settlement of the whole matter, includ-
ing Namibia."
' He said a Congressional resolution on
the subject was being "worked on" by
the Senate majority leader, Bob Dole,
Republican of Kansas, and by Senator
Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indi-
ana, chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee. He said the resolution
would provide "a general expression of
sentiment" in support of Unita.
An aide to Mr. Lugar confirmed that
such a resolution might be introduced
next week while Mr. Savimbi is in
Washington. He said Mr. Shultz had
suggested a general statement of sup-
port for Unita and for a negotiated set-.
Itlement in southern Africa.
Senior Official's Remarks
A senior Administration official, ,
, asked to amplify Mr. Shultz's com-
ments, said today that "one of the foun-
dations of our policy is the belief that
military solutions to the region's prob-
lems are not viable, and that a negoti-
ated agreement is the only way to at-
tain durable peace and stability."
He said that it is "essential that An-
golans resolve their differences."
"The Administration does not be-
lieve that legislation mandating aid to
Unita would be an effective way to pro-
ceed," he said. "The question of how
best to achieve our goals is under con-
stant review, and we are consulting,
with the Congress with regard to the;
best means of doing so."
Chester A. Crocker, Assistant Secre-
tary of State for African affairs, re-
cently met with Angolan and South Af-
rican leaders to discuss the drawn-out
negotiations. Mr. Shultz said in the in-
terview that a negotiated accord defi-
nitely remained possible..
"It's a long, hard process," he
added, "and I don't want to give any
impression that were about to find a ,
solution. But the process is alive, and,
the exchanges are of such a nature that
movement is discernible."
Angola has proposed, as part of a
wider accord, that many of Cuban
troops in that country would be with-
drawn and that the rest would be
moved to the north, away from South
Africa. But the United States and South
Africa are both calling for a total
Cuban withdrawal.
The Cubans were sent to Angola .in
1975 to combat the South Africans, who
hau entered the country in iuyporn.
Mr. Savimbi's forces. At the time, Mr.
Savimbi's group iecei ad coved
American aid through the Central In-
telligence Agency4 but Congress then
passed a Iaw-bannink American assist-
ance to groups in Angola.
That law, known for its sponsor, Dick
Clark, then a Democratic Senator from
Iowa, was repealed last summer, open-
ing the way to intensive discussion, in
Congress and within the Administra-
tion on whether and how to aid the
Savimbi forces.
ContinGtii
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630021-8
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630021-8
`We Are Isolating Libya'
On Libya, Mr. Shultz said he vi,as?
satisfied by the efforts being made to
punish Col. Muammar el-Qaddan's
Government. He said that "we are in
the process of gradually isolating
Libya on this issue and forcing them to
change or become increasingly isolat-
ed." He declined to discuss the ulti-
mate mission of the Sixth Fleet cat-ti-
ers whose planes are carrying out exer-
cises north of Libya.
As for his agenda for this year, Mr.
Shultz said that "we have to give:a
'great amount of attention to the U.S.-
Soviet relationship in all its dimen-
sions, arms control of various sorts?
and regional issues and bilateral prob-
lems, human rights problems, and-so
on ? the full plate.'
He said that to prepare for the next
summit meeting, he would probably!
meet twice with the Soviet ForeignI
,Minister, Eduard A. Shevardnad40,1
once here and once in Moscow. ?
I
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630021-8