Word: pretoria
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...shift has not been without its critics, U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick's consultation last March with high-level South African intelligence officials aroused fears that "constructive engagement" would involve Americans in the South African regime's repression of Blacks. A series if unexplained but highly-official diplomatic shuttles between Pretoria and Washington, along with voices of outcry from Black African capitals, added to the sense of confusion. More recently, a Reagan Administration's effort to back South Africa officially in certain areas has become clear, most prominently its pledge to veto any resolution in the U.N. security council explicitly condemning...
South Africa has little to gain from cooperation with the United States besides the degree of legitimacy that American backing gives in international circles. Pretoria evidently found the new Reagan administration's support helpful last January when it reneged in its agreement to submit the territory to U.N.-monitored elections. U.S. backing of its puppet government in Namibia bolstered the Botha regime's smug refusal to recognize the Soviet-backed Southwest Africa People's Organization as the best representative for the peoples of Southwest Africa. Reagan and the United States can feel justified in demanding the guarantee of minority rights...
...delay, thus strengthening Soviet influence in the region. Last January South Africa withdrew its approval of a U.N.-sponsored plan for a cease-fire and for supervised free elections in Namibia, largely for fear that SWAPO would emerge victorious. Last week Secretary of State Alexander Haig revealed that Pretoria is again ready to go along with the U.N. plan, provided certain unspecified "confidence-building" measures are guaranteed beforehand...
...future of Namibia has become a touchstone of Western good faith in black Africa. Any association of the U.S. with Pretoria's Namibia policies will be seen by black Africa as a deeper identification with a regime that suppresses a black majority; it could also encourage South Africa to resist even minor reforms of apartheid. Says Donald McHenry...
...session on Namibia, it was determined to maintain a neutral role. Explained a U.S. official: "We are prepared to take the heat and hope that by taking heat we might facilitate compromises in the long run," meaning that support to South Africa now might translate into a settlement with Pretoria on Namibia later. -By Russ Hoyle. Reported by Marsh Clark/Johannesburg