RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH AFRICA

The report consists of a paper presented at the North American Regional Conference for Action against Apartheid held at the United Nations Headquarters on June 18-21, 1984. The paper discusses the Azania People's Organization (AZAPO), the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), African National Congress (ANC), and SWAPO. It discusses U.S. organizations including the National Black United Front, the Coalition to End Cultural Collaboration with South Africa, Unity In Action network of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, African Jazz Artists Society and Studios (AJASS), Artists and Athletes against Apartheid, TransAfrica, and the Soweto Solidarity Coalition. The paper argues that the competitive relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union has been the major factor in determining policy towards Africa and that the U.S. initiatives toward a Namibian settlement came largely in response to the MPLA victory in Angola, which was won with Soviet and Cuban support. For Henry Kissinger, in particular, U.S. policy reflected a global strategy in which African realities were secondary to a perceived Soviet challenge. U.S. policy toward southern Africa has been shaped by economic concerns, including the preservation of access to strategic minerals and the protection of markets and investments. The U.S. has adopted a non-confrontational policy toward colonial and apartheid régimes and has maintained a distant relationship with the liberation movements, at best. The paper discusses the Nixon Administration, the Carter Administration, Chester Crocker, Flour Corporation, and Koeberg. Contents: I. INTRODUCTION • Terms of reference • Historical overview • II. RECENT UNITED STATES POLICIES - "CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT" • A regional strategy • III. THE ARMS EMBARGO • A. United States enforcement of the arms embargo • Export regulations relaxed • Poor embargo enforcement • United States exports of arms and military equipment to South Africa • Holes in embargo-some cases • Aircraft • Computers • The bantustans • B. Nuclear collaboration between the United States and South Africa • History • Uranium enrichment-A lever • Personnel exchanges • Nuclear equipment and technology • South African uranium • Maintaining South African reactors • C. Summary of United States-South Africa police and military contacts • D. Co-operation in the intelligence sphere • IV. ECONOMIC COLLABORATION • The United States role • Technology • Energy and oil • Opposition to United States involvement • Government encouragement of trade and investment • Other forms of economic collaboration • Shipping • Tourism • V. CULTURAL, ACADEMIC AND SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION • A. Cultural boycott • B. Academic and scientific collaboration • VI. SPORTS CONTACTS • VII. UNITED STATES RECOGNITION OF SOUTH AFRICA • A. United States personnel in South Africa • B. United States policy toward the bantustans • VIII. UNITED STATES POSITION ON SOUTH AFRICA AT THE UNITED NATIONS • IX. QUESTION OF ASSISTANCE TO THE OPPRESSED PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THEIR LIBERATION MOVEMENTS • X. SOUTH AFRICA'S PROPAGANDA AND LOBBIES IN THE UNITED STATES • Visits to South Africa • United States lobbyists • The gold lobby • XI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • FOOTNOTES • Appendix I: United States Commerce Department Export Control Regulations on South Africa and Namibia 21 January 1983 • Appendix II: United States Direct Investment in South Africa (1982)