AFRICANS RAISE APARTHEID, BUT STOP SHORT OF EXCLUSION.

Sep 19, 1986

AFRICANS RAISE APARTHEID, BUT STOP SHORT OF EXCLUSION.

PUNTA DEL ESTE SEP. 17 (IFDA/CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN) -- The African Group of GATT Contracting Parties raised the issue of South Africa and its apartheid policies and occupation of Namibia, but stopped short of calling for the expulsion of South Africa from GATT or for its exclusion from the new round.

Both at the Cairo G-77 high level meeting in august on economic cooperation among developing countries and at the Harare Nam Summit, African Nations had raised this issue and had obtained backing for a call to the GATT CPS to exclude South Africa from the new round.

However, at the meeting of the group here, and under heavy pressure from the U.S. and Europe, they appeared to have backed away, and contented themselves with making a declaration and presentation at the Plenary Session of the CPS.

By raising the issue within the G77 and Nam Summit, and then in effect backing away from it here, the African Group would appear to have provided the racist regime a victory of sorts.

In the statement on behalf of the group, the Minister of Commerce of The Congo, Alphonse Souchlaty Poaty, referred to the struggle against apartheid and for the liberation of Namibia, saying that in the view of the African States, the only way that the majority of South Africans could participate genuinely in the provisions of GATT was for the CPS to coordinate and help speedily to impose comprehensive and mandatory sanctions.

The African statement called for "total and mandatory sanctions, including a trade embargo to be imposed on South Africa".

The group welcomed positive developments in this direction within the U.S. and the EEC, and hoped other CPS in a position to do so would move from limited and selective sanctions tot total and mandatory sanctions.