TransAfrica News

Contents: U.S. LIFTS TRADE SANCTIONS AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA • U.S. FOREIGN POLICY: POLAND VS. SOUTH AFRICA by Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu • Country Profile ZAIRE: AMERICA FINANCES ONE MAN'S EMPIRE • AFRICAN AND CARIBBEAN NEWS BRIEFS • DEATHS IN DETENTION IN SOUTH AFRICA • REAGAN INITIATES CARIBBEAN PLAN • OAU MEETING CLOSES AMIDST DISPUTE OVER THE WESTERN SAHARA • NKOMO OUSTED FROM GOVERNMENT IN ZIMBABWE • U.N. LAUNCHES CULTURAL BOYCOTT OF SOUTH AFRICA • U.S. SEEKS MILITARY BASES IN CARIBBEAN • U.S. TRADE DELEGATION VISITS FOUR AFRICAN COUNTRIES • LEGISLATION AND POLICY UPDATE * FOREIGN AID BILLS * SOUTH AFRICA INVESTMENT BILLS * IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS * U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH AFRICA * U.S.-SOUTH AFRICA NUCLEAR TIES * SENATE TERRORISM SUBCOMMITTE * HUMAN RIGHTS • TRANSAFRICA CELEBRATES FIFTH ANNIVERSARY • THE TAMING OF THE "ROBIN HOOD" BANKS • OAU PEACEKEEPING FORCE IN JEOPARDY • U.S. ANNOUNCES "THE GREAT JAMAICA TAX BREAK" • The Reagan administration relaxed restrictions on exports to the South African military and police, reversing a four-year policy intended to support the United Nations arms embargo. The curbs were lifted despite widespread opposition expressed through hundreds of letters, calls and telegrams to Commerce and State department officials, as well as in testimony at congressional hearings and a letter to President Reagan from 62 prominent Americans including NAACP Director Benjamin Hooks, Urban League Director John Jacobs, noted statesman Averell Harriman, actor Sydney Poitier, UAW President Douglas Frazer, and United Food and Commercial Workers Int'l Union official Addie Wyatt. Zaire, Africa's third largest country, is the world's leading producer of cobalt and industrial diamonds, and the seventh largest producer of copper. The first ever cabinet-level trade delegation returned in late January from a tour of four African countries. Last fall, two bills restricting aspects of U.S. economic relations with South Africa were introduced in the House. Experts believe South Africa has already developed nuclear weapons capability largely as a result of cooperation with the U.S.; the Reagan Administration has suggested that the U.S. can use renewing nuclear cooperation as a "confidence building measure" to encourage South African acquiescence on Namibian independence. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) will be unable to maintain a peacekeeping force in Chad without new emergency financial donations. The newsletter mentions Thomas Conrad of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, export-control regulations, Rep. Howard Wolpe, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Mobutu Sese Seko, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nguza Karl I Bond, Dr. Neil Aggett, the African Food and Canning Workers Union (AFCWU), a crackdown on trade unionists, students and church leaders, Tshifhiwa Muofhe, the Lutheran Church, Venda, Dr. C.H. Mngadi, the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Prime Minster Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, the Patriotic Front (ZAPU), Secretary of State Alexander Haig, the Clark Amendment, PL 97-113, HR 3597, Rep. Bill Gray, HR 3008, Rep. Steve Solarz, U.S. bank loans, the Krugerrand gold coin, Rep. Clement Zablocki, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Herman Nickel, U.S. business involvement, Sen. Gary Hart, Rep. Richard Ottinger, Sen. Jeremiah Denton, liberation movements, the African National Congress (ANC), the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO), Rep. Don Bonker, Michael Manley, Andrew Young, the Congressional Black Caucus, Anne Holloway, the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, multilateral development banks, less developed countries, Edem Kodjo, the U.N South Africa Trust Fund, the U.N. Institute for Namibia, the African Development Foundation, increased military aid, Chadian President Goukouni Oueddei, and Hissan Habre.