U.S. Weighs Major Shift on S. Africa : May Initiate Talks With Main Black Opposition Groups

The Reagan Administration is in the process of reviewing its policy toward South Africa with the goal of getting talks going between Washington and representatives of South Africa’s black community, senior Administration officials said Saturday.

A possible outcome of the major policy review could be a significant change in the Administration’s stance toward minority white-ruled South Africa, the officials said. Until now, the Administration has had only the sketchiest contacts with the African National Congress, which South Africa has outlawed as a terrorist organization. An opening of official communication channels with the ANC might result from the review, the senior officials said.

Requested by Reagan

President Reagan asked for the review several weeks ago when the South African government ordered raids into several neighboring countries to attack what it called guerrilla encampments of the outlawed African National Congress. The White House condemned those raids.

The review should be completed “in the next couple of weeks or so,” one of the officials said, adding that the Administration has “maintained very close contact with the British” as it examines various options.

He said the policy review was spurred by the collapse of the Eminent Persons Group, an effort sponsored by the Commonwealth nations aimed at establishing a dialogue between the South African government and established black leaders.

“We were disappointed when they gave up,” the official said, speaking on the condition that he not be identified by name. “We were supporting that process and knew that we would have to put something in its place.”

State of Emergency

The Eminent Persons Group gave up in frustration before the South African government instituted a state of emergency early this month to prevent black demonstrations commemorating the 10th anniversary of the bloody Soweto uprisings.

In today’s editions, the New York Times quoted a close aide to Reagan as saying the Administration was seeking directly and indirectly, through U.S. aides and intermediaries, to establish contacts with black leaders, including Oliver Tambo, head of the African National Congress.

“We do have contact at various levels with the ANC,” the New York Times quoted the presidential aide as saying.

Last Tuesday, Tambo met with a British Foreign Office official in London, marking the first time a senior British official received a representative of the ANC.

Here in Santa Barbara, the senior Administration official insisted that the search for other options does not signal an end to Washington’s controversial policy of “constructive engagement,” emphasizing close contacts and quiet pressure to get Pretoria to abandon its policy of apartheid.

“The question is, how do we remain constructively engaged?” he said.

The Administration has been under increasing congressional pressure to embrace stiff sanctions against South Africa, a move that Reagan has said would be “truly counterproductive and disastrous.”

At the same time, the Administration has had little to show for its policy of quiet pressure. South African President Pieter W. Botha recently rebuffed a personal plea from Reagan to end the current state of emergency.

The official said it would be “premature” to discuss the various options that the Administration is exploring, but he added, “You can be assured sanctions are not one of them.”

The Administration remains firmly opposed to sanctions, he said, believing that they would be “damaging” to blacks in South Africa and hurt surrounding countries as well.

“Our objective is to get a dialogue going between the government and the black community, and both parties are going to have to move a little to make that happen,” he said.