U.S. Relations in Southern Africa

Abstract

U.S. policies in southern Africa are essentially founded on political interests, a significant ingredient of which is our concern for human rights. We believe the minority governments of Rhodesia, South Africa, and Namibia violate fundamental human rights. We cannot remain a spec tator in the decolonization of Rhodesia and Namibia and the system of apartheid in South Africa. This administration's policy has been to try to ensure peaceful changes in these countries. Violence would cause untold human suffering and also create a climate for intervention by forces from outside Africa. We firmly believe African problems should be solved by Africans themselves. The situation in South Africa is dif ferent from that in Rhodesia and Namibia, since the whites have been there for 300 years and Africa is their home. Though we have demonstrated our opposition to the apartheid system, South Africa's problems should be resolved in Africa. There are examples on the African continent which give hope that political leaders can build a future in which blacks and whites can co-exist and prosper rather than have the future imposed on them.