Commonwealth Delays New S. Africa Curbs for 6 Months

Leaders of the 46-nation Commonwealth on Sunday gave South Africa six months to deliver on reform promises or face new reprisals, and they called for tighter financial pressure immediately. Britain alone dissented.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, rejecting key provisions of the Commonwealth summit declaration on South Africa, charged that U.S. and Commonwealth embargoes have strengthened white extremism in South Africa. But she went along with a stipulation that current trade embargoes remain.

In its declaration, the organization of Britain and its former colonies held off on seeking new embargoes for at least six months.

Britain objected to provisions setting up a new body to scrutinize South Africa’s financial links and declaring that a foreign ministers’ committee, which monitors sanctions and suggests new ones, will meet in six months.

The 12-page declaration gave muted acknowledgment of reform moves by South Africa’s new president, Frederik W. de Klerk.

It said there is a “possibility that significant changes in approach on the part of the South African regime . . . may yet prove to be within reach.”

The declaration was issued Sunday after final approval by the Commonwealth leaders at a weekend retreat at Langkawi Island, 210 miles northwest of here.

In a separate statement Sunday, Thatcher said: “There seems to be a clear correlation between the imposition of additional sanctions by the U.S. Congress and the Commonwealth and the strength of extreme right-wing parties in South Africa utterly opposed to change.”

In parts of the summit declaration, the tone was milder than that of previous Commonwealth pronouncements on South Africa, and it stressed the need for peaceful change.

The declaration incorporated an Australian proposal that the Commonwealth call on international banks to restrict South African trade credits to a maximum of 90 days and urge governments to make it more difficult for South Africa to get credits.

It also said that a U.N. arms embargo should be intensified.

Current Commonwealth embargoes consist of 11 voluntary sanctions, including a ban on air links, drawn up in 1986.

Britain refuses to impose most of the Commonwealth embargoes. Black African states, which depend economically on South Africa, do not impose them.

The Commonwealth sanctions fall well short of those imposed by the United States.