Beaten Boy Should Return to Zimbabwe, Reagan Says

WASHINGTON — President Reagan now believes a 9-year-old boy alleged to have been abused by his expelled Zimbabwean diplomat father should be returned to his country despite the concerns of welfare workers, the White House suggested today.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters Reagan is satisfied Zimbabwe has adequate child protection laws and that the Harare government has pledged that the boy, Terence Karamba, would be looked after properly.

New York City welfare workers went to court last month to place the boy under protection after he turned up at school bloodied and bruised.

The city charged that the boy’s father, Floyd Karamba, a diplomat at the Zimbabwe mission to the United Nations, “tied Terence’s forearms and legs together with wire, and repeatedly struck him with an electrical extension cord.”

The State Department ordered the diplomat to return to Zimbabwe last week, calling his conduct unacceptable.

“The President is interested in the welfare of the boy, Terence Karamba, and he asked that the State Department monitor the situation,” Fitzwater said.

U.S. officials, who asked not to be identified, said there was no truth to press reports that Harare had threatened to cut diplomatic relations with the United States if the boy was not sent home.