African Activist Archive

In the document Houser says on April 27th, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made an important speech at a lunch in the State House in Lusaka, Zambia's capital. The document says Kissinger has discovered Africa. Until the last few months he has given little indication of taking Africa seriously. The Kissinger statement in Lusaka somewhat changes the position enunciated in the NSSM 39 document of 1969. Kissinger made a personal commitment for the repeal of the Byrd Amendment which he had never done so forthrightly before. He indicated that the U.S. would assist Mozambique to meet the economic hardships attendant to the closing of its border with Rhodesia to the tune of $12.5 million. Kissinger did not say very much new as far as Namibia is concerned, and definitely avoided any serious discussion of South Africa. Kissinger made no comment at all on the risks involved in the greatly increased American investments in South Africa. There was no indication in the speech about any sort of assistance to the liberation movements. In a later speech Kissinger refereed to the Angolan issue and the problem of recognition of the Peoples Republic of Angola by suggesting that relations could not be normalized until Cuban troops had been withdrawn.

African Activist Archive

Comments on Kissinger's Lusaka Speech

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