S. Africa Suspends Sale of Arms to Syria

Hoping to defuse a bitter dispute with Washington, President Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet deferred a decision Wednesday on whether to allow a $640-million sale of sensitive weapons technology to Syria’s dictatorial regime.

U.S. diplomats said privately they believe that the move effectively killed the sale, which would have supplied sophisticated, laser-guided targeting and firing systems for hundreds of aging Soviet-made T-72 battle tanks in Syria’s arsenal.

Washington considers Syria a “state sponsor of terrorism” and had warned that under U.S. law, the sale of the weaponry to Damascus could trigger a cut in all but humanitarian assistance to South Africa.

Congress has approved $117 million in development aid and loan guarantees to South Africa this year.

The proposed arms sale has been the chief source of friction between Mandela’s government and the Clinton administration for the last three months.

The two governments have clashed repeatedly in the past over South Africa’s willingness to embrace regimes that Washington considers unsavory, including Iran, Libya and Cuba.

The U.S. and Israel said the T-72 conversion kits would greatly enhance Syria’s offensive military capability and could destabilize the fragile Middle East peace process.

Government critics here said the plan suggested that South Africa had abandoned its pledge not to sell arms to regions in conflict.

Using conciliatory language, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki told reporters after the Cabinet meeting that the government wanted to consult more closely with Washington “to get some clear understanding . . . to larger questions so that we don’t get this kind of rumble again.”

The controversy will be on the agenda during Vice President Al Gore’s Feb. 14-17 visit to South Africa for a scheduled meeting of a top-level commission that oversees joint initiatives in trade, technology, environmental affairs and other endeavors.

The flap began quietly in diplomatic channels in October, after Pretoria first notified Washington that Denel, the state-owned weapons company, was trying to make the deal.

Experts said it would be South Africa’s largest-known weapons sale, nearly triple the country’s total arms exports last year.

But the dispute erupted into a public war of words 10 days ago after the Cabinet’s provisional approval of the deal in December was leaked to a Sunday newspaper here, and a State Department spokesman in Washington called it “extremely serious,” warning of a potential aid cut if the sale went ahead.

Apparently outraged, Mandela insisted that South Africa would act as it saw fit.

“We will conclude agreements with any country whether they are popular in the West or not,” he said angrily.

His aides used stronger language, blasting the U.S. as “bullies” and its behavior as “insulting.”

Greg Mills, director of the independent South African Institute of International Affairs, said the squabble showed neither government clearly understood the other’s domestic political concerns.

“I think it was a case of overreaction on both sides,” he said. “The question is not relations with the U.S. We’ll get over it. The biggest casualty is South Africa’s image as a responsible, reliable partner. And that image has suffered.”