Botha and Mozambican President to Discuss Reviving Peace Accord

South African President Pieter W. Botha travels today to war-ravaged Mozambique, where South Africa is regarded as both the hostile backer of right-wing guerrillas and an economic powerhouse whose cooperation is badly needed by its poorer neighbor.

Botha and Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano will hold a day of talks at Songo near the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam--a stalled project to harness the mighty Zambezi River that symbolizes the complex relationship between their two states.

Their aim will be to revive the Nkomati Accord, a 1984 nonaggression pact in which Pretoria and Maputo undertook not to support each other’s guerrilla enemies, and to promote a renewal of economic cooperation.

Cahora Bassa was begun by the Portuguese colonial government with the idea that South Africa, far to the south, would be the main customer for its electricity.

By the time it was completed in 1979, Mozambique was an independent state governed by Marxist former guerrillas. Despite their sympathy for the black anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, the new rulers found that the only way the dam could pay its way was by selling power to Pretoria. An agreement was reached to supply South Africa with 1,450 megawatts of electricity--10% of the power it needs.

But with Mozambique embroiled in a chaotic civil war, the 900-mile power line from Cahora Bassa to the South African border was an easy target for sabotage, and the deal has never been fulfilled.

South Africa is frequently accused of backing the right-wing rebels of the Mozambique National Resistance--known as the MNR or Renamo--who, among many attacks that have ruined Mozambique’s economy, regularly blow up the power lines.

Pretoria denies having backed the rebels since the 1984 Nkomati Accord, but Melissa Wells, the U.S. ambassador in Maputo, said in an interview six weeks ago: “We know that there is still a pattern of communication and support from South Africa to Renamo.”