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•PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT,
JUNE
24, 1986
PAGE 13
exiled leader, Oliver Tambo, denounced Pretoria for its •criminal
J murderous character of genocide,• especially for its recent punitive raids
on ANC compounds in three neighboring countries. •unless the world takes
decisive action in South Africa [meaning total sanctions], a bloodbath is
inevitable,• said Tambo. He went on to issue a not-too-veiled threat of
sabotage against U.S. and other Western-owned industries in South Africa.
•perhaps the companies are waiting to be forced to withdraw,• he said
angrily.
South Africa's three largest trading partners and investors--Great
Britain, the United States and West Germa.ny--were not present officially
in Paris. But the U.S. had some unofficial observers. Jesse Jackson was
present. Before he left for Paris, he denounced at a rally in New York
his own nation's •sleazy partnership with despotism and state terrorism.•
And in typical Jacksonian hyperbole, he labeled President Botha the
I :!� iritual successor to Hitler.• The news media, of course, relays such
t__;:.:: aggerations ·without comment.
The ANC's pressure for sanctions, though still resisted by those countries
that really matter, is nevertheless beginning to wear them down. In the
United States, pressure has been building in the Congress for much tougher
measures than the President finally imposed last year.
Among other
things, proposed legislation would ban new American investments and loans
in South Africa, bar the importation of South African steel, coal and
uranium and withdraw landing rights for South African Aizways in the
United States.
Cynically, it would not prevent the import of such
critical metals as chromium, manganese and vanadium.
The country facing the heaviest pressure at the moment is Britain.
Recently a team calling itself the •Eminent Persons Group" (EPG), composed
of seven leading Commonwealth personalities, visited South Africa to
assess the possibility of a negotiated settlement between Pretoria and
•recognized black leaders•--code phrase for the ANC.
The EPG was an
outgrowth of last year's Commonwealth conference, which was dominated by
the South.African issue. The Botha government claims the EPG was biased
in its assessment of South Africa's troubles.
The visit led nowhere,
whereupon the EPG filed a report that stops just short of calling
specifically for international sanctions.
�stralian Prime Minister Bob Hawke warned that by holding out against
\ ! � nctions British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was •risking a breakup
of the Commonwealth,• of which South Africa was once a member. Zambia's
President Kenneth Kaunda has, in fact, threatened to pull his country out
of the Commonwealth if sanctions are not applied. Queen Elizabeth, who is
a good friend of Mr. Kaunda, is known to have expressed to Prime Minister
Thatcher her deep concern for the future of the Commonwealth over this
fractious issue.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Thatcher still maintains that
•sanctions don't work.• Also at stake are tens of thousands of British
jobs connected to trade with South Africa (Britain has 40 percent of all
direct foreign investment in the RSA) • Moreover some 800,000 people in
South Africa hold British passports and, if the economic situation there
deteriorated badly, presumably many would flee to Britain.
The Canadian government, too, is on the hot seat.
Ottawa recently
tightened the trade screws but may feel obliged to do more.
This is