Angola Talks Adjourn; Steps Agreed Upon

Delegates from Angola, Cuba and South Africa said after their fifth round of U.S.-mediated negotiations Friday that they had agreed on “a sequence of steps to achieve peace in southwestern Africa.”

A brief joint communique at the end of the four-day session gave no details of the agreement and said it must be approved by the three governments. The statement said a summary of the negotiations would be issued Monday in the respective capitals.

Talks began in May on ways of ending a 13-year-old civil war in Angola and bringing independence to South-West Africa, which also is known as Namibia and has been ruled by South Africa since World War I.

A joint statement after the fourth round last month in New York said the three nations accepted 14 “principles” as the framework for a settlement.

New Session Planned

Friday’s communique said the next session will be held the week of Aug. 22, with the date and place to be announced.

It said the negotiations in Geneva “were detailed, positive and productive. The participants agreed . . . on a sequence of steps to achieve peace in southwestern Africa.”

A statement issued in Pretoria earlier Friday said the South African delegation will report on the meeting and, after consultations with leaders of South-West Africa, the government will “convey its decision to the other parties within four days.”

The final session of the fifth round lasted longer than expected Friday, until early evening rather than midday, delegation sources reported.

Chester A. Crocker, the U.S. mediator, had scheduled a news conference for Friday afternoon but it was delayed, then canceled without explanation. He is assistant secretary of state for African affairs.

Representatives of the South-West African People’s Organization, the main guerrilla group fighting for independence in Namibia, met with Crocker on Friday.

A report from the group’s news agency quoted Hidipo Hamutenya, SWAPO information and publicity secretary, as saying “progress made so far gives reason for cautious optimism.”