This legislative update reports that the House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted an amendment to the Foreign Aid Authorization bill to restore the export controls on "non-military" goods sold to the South African military and policy that were loosened by the Reagan Administration in February 1982. The Committee also adopted language that would make it virtually impossible to expend $2.3 million proposed by the Reagan administration for South African internal educational programs. The Committee rejected an amendment offered by Representative Howard Wolpe recommending that $5 million be allocated for Mozambican road and port development and instead decided that "such assistance...
This legislative update reports that the House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted an amendment to the Foreign Aid Authorization bill to restore the export controls on "non-military" goods sold to the South African military and policy that were loosened by the Reagan Administration in February 1982. The Committee also adopted language that would make it virtually impossible to expend $2.3 million proposed by the Reagan administration for South African internal educational programs. The Committee rejected an amendment offered by Representative Howard Wolpe recommending that $5 million be allocated for Mozambican road and port development and instead decided that "such assistance be conditioned on a showing by Mozambique of its desire to improve relations with the United States." Both the House Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to reduce military aid to Zaire. The House Committee also adopted language offered by Representative Benjamin Gilman saying that no funds can go to programs that "provide political benefits" to the PLO or SWAPO, which could reduce U.S. funding for the United Nations Institute for Namibia in Lusaka, Zambia. A cover letter with this update reports on South African policies of the Reagan administration, including the State Department giving permission to South Africa to open honorary consulates in three U.S. cities (Seattle, Cleveland, and Denver); the Department of Commerce considering an application from the South Africans for the purchase of 95 grams of helium-3, which can ultimately be used for the making of a hydrogen bomb; and continued sales of U.S. computers, "air ambulances," and helicopters to the South African military and police under revised export control regulations.
