Sweden to End All Trade With South Africa

Sweden on Thursday ordered an end to all trade with South Africa in one of the harshest actions so far by an industrialized nation against apartheid.

Foreign Minister Sten Andersson said the Swedish government hopes that the decision will influence the United Nations to recommend binding sanctions.

He told reporters that when Sweden banned new investments in South Africa in 1979, “people said that would make no difference, have no effect . . . but in fact many countries followed us.”

“The time for a peaceful solution of apartheid is about to run out. The violence is expanding,” Andersson said at a news conference after the Cabinet endorsed the ban.

Oct. 1 Deadline

The ban takes effect July 1 and imposes a deadline of Oct. 1 for Swedish companies to end all trade with South Africa, Foreign Trade Minister Anita Gradin reported.

It bans all trading of goods, including those passing through third countries. The measure calls for a parliamentary committee to study disinvestment and a parallel ban on services.

Gradin said international laws and compensation issues would have made immediate action in those fields “very complicated.”

The ban departed from Sweden’s traditional policy of neutrality and of imposing only those sanctions recommended by the U.N. Security Council.

The government said it was a unique deviation, taken in frustration over the situation in South Africa and U.N. failure to impose mandatory international sanctions to force South Africa’s government to end the apartheid system of racial segregation.

The United States and Britain on Feb. 20 vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for binding sanctions against South Africa.

Sweden was among the first to impose limited sanctions against South Africa, but it failed to join in when Denmark initiated a wide-ranging trade boycott last year or when Norway proposed similar action, still pending in the Norwegian Parliament.

Finnish Vote Pending

Finland has decided in principle to ban trade as soon as there is a new Parliament after elections next weekend, though last year trade sank to $369,000 through voluntary sanctions.

The moves in Scandinavia go far beyond the limited sanctions passed by the European Economic Community, or Common Market.

Sweden’s Parliament must pass the measure, but that seemed certain because all parties except the conservative Moderate Party support it.

The Moderates, with 76 seats in the 349-member Parliament, cited doubts the measure would help blacks and concern about Sweden’s neutral line.

Andersson said Sweden consulted with the Front-Line States neighboring South Africa; nonaligned nations and the outlawed African National Congress.

Archie Gumede, a founding member of the South African anti-apartheid coalition United Democratic Front, welcomed the bill in a radio interview.

‘Can Prevent Civil War’

Gumede, on a visit in Sweden, said sanctions “can prevent civil war in South Africa.”

Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson’s government has been under pressure since last year to act on its own against South Africa. It hesitated for fear of compromising Swedish neutrality, which calls for action only in concert with other nations.

The Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee cleared the way last week when it endorsed the ban. In South Africa, a pro-government newspaper, The Citizen, responded by saying Sweden “can go to hell for all we care.”

The ban also covers South-West Africa, or Namibia, the territory ruled by South Africa in violation of U.N. resolutions.

Exceptions would be made on a case-by-case basis if the ban is found to directly benefit South African companies by removing competition, or if it would create an unacceptable level of Swedish unemployment, according to the draft bill distributed to reporters.

About 300 Swedish companies do business in South Africa, but the bulk of trade is in the hands of fewer than a dozen firms, most of them mining concerns. The ban could jeopardize the jobs of up to 800 of the 2,500 Swedes involved in producing goods sold in South Africa.