Senate Vote Called Move to Hurt South Africa’s Black Neighbors

A Senate vote to prohibit aid to southern African nations unless President Reagan certifies that they renounce terrorism drew angry comment Friday as a thinly disguised effort to hurt the black-led countries around South Africa.

The prohibition in the form of an amendment to a money bill was approved Thursday by a lopsided 77-15 vote.

It would bar economic assistance to black-ruled countries unless Reagan tells Congress they oppose terrorism and are making efforts to prevent organizations from using their territory for guerrilla raids or terrorist attacks against South Africa.

The amendment would require renunciation by those nations of “necklacing”--killing people by placing a gasoline-soaked tire around their necks and setting it afire. The practice has been used by some blacks in South Africa, usually against blacks seen as agents of the Pretoria government.

Sponsored by Pressler

Sponsored by Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), the amendment was approved as part of a $9.4-billion catch-all money bill. The underlying bill has not yet passed the Senate, and the Pressler amendment is not part of a similar House-passed measure.

For the provision to become law, both houses of Congress would have to give the measure final approval and it would have to be signed by the President.

An associate of Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.), a leader of efforts to aid southern African nations, denounced the Pressler attempt as “unnecessary, irrelevant and simply an attempt to frustrate the anti-apartheid effort generally.”

“I know these countries do not support necklacing; why make them say it? It is degrading,” said the aide, who asked not to be identified. “It is pro-white South Africa, pro-apartheid and anti-black emerging states.”

Denounced Necklacing

Last year, when Congress voted economic sanctions against South Africa because of apartheid, it added an amendment denouncing necklacing.

The catch-all bill contains $50 million in economic assistance for the Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference as a way to help its member countries break their economic dependence on white-ruled South Africa.

Gray and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus--which also denounced the Pressler amendment--have proposed a $700-million economic assistance package for the black-ruled countries around South Africa--Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana.