U.S., Britain Veto U.N. Move for Mandatory S. Africa Sanctions

The United States and Britain vetoed a Security Council resolution on Tuesday calling for selective, mandatory economic sanctions against South Africa as punishment for its recent crackdown against anti-apartheid organizations.

The vote in the 15-nation council was 10 to 2, with France, West Germany and Japan abstaining.

The resolution proposed a ban on exports and sales of oil to South Africa, a ban on iron and steel imports, a ban on the sale of coins minted in South Africa, an end to loans to the country and a halt to all military, police or intelligence cooperation with Pretoria.

Voting for the resolution were the Soviet Union, China, Brazil and Italy, together with the resolution’s six nonaligned sponsors--Algeria, Argentina, Nepal, Senegal, Yugoslavia and Zambia.

The vote came at the end of a debate begun last Thursday at the request of African states seeking condemnation of Pretoria’s action in imposing an almost total ban on the activities of 17 anti-apartheid groups and a number of individuals.

Council sources said a resolution had initially been drafted condemning the new curbs and calling for them to be rescinded. But many council members were angered by an unusually defiant speech on the debate’s opening day by Leslie Manley, South Africa’s U.N. ambassador, and the resolution was toughened to include a range of economic sanctions.

Manley, using some of the bluntest language heard in the council in recent years, said:

“We will not bow to your threats or demands, and we will reject your accusations with contempt and invite you to do your damnedest.”

In Johannesburg, Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha said on national television that “I wrote the words” in Manley’s address.

“Either we’re strong enough to withstand and resist the onslaught against us, or we’re not,” Botha said.

The tone and content of Manley’s speech drew a public rebuke the following day from Security Council President Dragoslav Pejic of Yugoslavia, who called Manley’s remarks “an affront to the international community and absolutely unacceptable.”