Contents: Sanctions Wrap-Up • Strategy Analysis • Anti-Angola action in the closing moments of the 100th Congress • Congressional Outlook for 1989 • WOA legislative goals for 1989 • Conclusion • The mailing says the Congressional battle to impose comprehensive economic sanctions on the apartheid regime in South Africa ended in the Senate with the failure to get the sanctions bill scheduled for a Senate vote before adjournment of the 100th Congress; while lobbying efforts in the closing days of the Congress were focused around passage of the Senate sanctions measure, Senator Dennis DeConcini, introduced a non-binding Resolution which condemned the Angolan government; this Resolution,...
Contents: Sanctions Wrap-Up • Strategy Analysis • Anti-Angola action in the closing moments of the 100th Congress • Congressional Outlook for 1989 • WOA legislative goals for 1989 • Conclusion • The mailing says the Congressional battle to impose comprehensive economic sanctions on the apartheid regime in South Africa ended in the Senate with the failure to get the sanctions bill scheduled for a Senate vote before adjournment of the 100th Congress; while lobbying efforts in the closing days of the Congress were focused around passage of the Senate sanctions measure, Senator Dennis DeConcini, introduced a non-binding Resolution which condemned the Angolan government; this Resolution, although eventually dropped as a concession to presidential candidate Michael Dukakis who opposed the measure, is a strong indication of the priorities of the bi-partisan conservative coalition which will continue to be active in the 101st Congress; joined by an incoming Bush Administration which, from all indications, echoes the conservative agenda in southern Africa, the list of challenges for anti-apartheid activists will be long in 1989. The mailing says after House passage of H.R. 1580, the Dellums sanctions bill on August 11 by a vote of 244-132, all sanctions lobbying efforts shifted towards the Senate; S. 2756, sanctions legislation nearly identical to the House-passed Dellums bill, was introduced into the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by Senator Alan Cranston; the legislation passed in Committee by a party-line vote of 10-9; this was the first time disinvestment legislation had ever passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; although a party-line vote, it is significant to note that Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) Chairman of the Committee, who is a lukewarm sanctions supporters, helped to maintain party discipline within the Committee, in spite of strong internal resistance to the legislation by Senator Terry Sanford; the fact that presidential candid ate Dukakis supported the measure, was also significant in forcing Democratic support for the measure in Committee. The mailing says the cost of obtaining disciplined Democratic voting on the sanctions measure was not without casualties; the crucial oil provision, which prohibited any oil company selling to South Africa from obtaining new federal oil leases, was deleted. The mailing says the key roadblock to full Senate consideration of the sanctions bill was Senator Robert Byrd; as Majority Leader, Senator Byrd, who opposed the bill, had the authority to decide which bills would come to the floor for a vote; aside from his own strong opposition to the bill, several other Senate Democrats were also not in support of the disinvestment provision within the measure. The mailing says because of a certain Reagan veto and the threat of a Republican filibuster of a sanctions bill, at least 60 votes were needed for Senate passage of the measure; with 60 votes, a cloture petition to end a probable filibuster of the measure would be guaranteed; that amount of Senate support would also have assured an override of the President's veto. The mailing says Senator DeConcini 's anti-Angola Resolution (S. Res. 476), condemned the Angolan government and urged continued U.S. support for the South African-backed UNITA rebels; this non-binding resolution was also offered as an amendment to the drug bill. Senator DeConcini eventually withdrew his Resolution, in part because of pressure from the Dukakis campaign. The mailing says Congressional backers of the South African-backed UNITA rebels are concerned that the recent peace pact mediated by the Reagan Administration regarding independence for Namibia and a Cuban troop withdrawal, might mean U.S. abandonment of Jonas Savimbi and UNITA; only days before the conclusion of the Congressional session, Senator DeConcini, after abandoning his anti-Angola Resolution, initiated a letter to President Reagan signed by 51 Senators; this letter strongly opposed U.S. contributions to the United Nations Peace Keeping Account unless an agreement for "national reconciliation with UNITA" is guaranteed by the Angolans during the peace talks. The mailing says throughout the Reagan Administration the right wing has been on the attack on southern African issues; while the successes on sanctions and other measures to curb U.S. support for the apartheid regime, and counter right wing legislative attempts have been significant, supporters of self-determination and peace in the region can never relax. The mailing says with the continuation of the basic elements of the Reagan doctrine in southern Africa, WOA's goals for the 1989 legislative year are clear; we will immediately begin again with comprehensive sanctions. Sanctions are still critical to dismantling the apartheid regime. The mailing says this progressive agenda for southern African legislation will be difficult, but not impossible to achieve; the conservative coalition is prepared to assault the struggle for self-determination in southern Africa; however, the way to overcome these odds is massive grassroots mobilization on these issues. The mailing discusses southern Democratic Senators, Senator Bennett Johnston, the State Department, Congressional conservatives, U.S. military aid to UNITA, the Soviet Union, Eastern Block nations, Renamo atrocities, SWAPO (South West African People's Organization), the Senate Angola Task Force, right-wing initiatives, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
