President of Urban League Calls for Tougher U.S. Policy on South Africa

SAN FRANCISCO — The president of the National Urban League urged the federal government Sunday to replace its policy of “constructive engagement” toward South Africa with a policy of “constructive pressures.”

At the opening of the league’s annual conference here, John E. Jacob said “nowhere on this globe is freedom more abused than in the racist state of South Africa. . . . And nowhere else is there an imminent danger of a terrible race war.”

The league president said the Reagan Administration’s current policy of constructive engagement, meaning persuasion without coercion, has failed and needs to be replaced with “sweeping sanctions.”

“If we could impose sanctions on Poland, sanctions on Nicaragua and sanctions on Libya, we can--and should--impose sanctions on South Africa,” he said.

A new policy should include personal intervention by President Reagan to secure the release of Nelson Mandela and other imprisoned black leaders, and White House insistence that the Botha regime negotiate constitutional change with black leaders.

If the United States is true to its ideals and willing to fulfill its world leadership responsibilities, Jacob said, it must now “change sides and support the struggle for freedom in South Africa.”

Jacob called on all American companies doing business in South Africa to leave now.

The convention of the Urban League, a black service organization founded in 1910, is expected to draw about 10,000 people.