NSDD 273 United States Policy toward South Africa

INCLASSURED SYSTEM II 90469 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON May 7, 1987 NATIONAL SECURITY DECISTON DIRECTIVE NUMBER 273 UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD SOUTH AFRICA National Security Decision Directive 187 dated September 7, 1985 determined that widespread violence and increased tension in South Africa, as well as Soviet challenges in southern Africa, posed a threat to important political, economic, and strategic interests of the U.S. and its allies in the region. NSDD 187 identified broad U.S. objectives in South and southern Africa and established a strategy of active U.S. engagement to attain those objectives. Since the approval of NSDD 187, significant developments have affected our posture in South Africa and the region. Under a state of emergency declared in June 1986, the South African Government (SAG) has resorted to increasingly stringent repression to control black unrest. International efforts to assist South African parties to begin negotiations, especially the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group effort, collapsed in the period May-July 1986. Regional tensions have increased as the SAG has resorted to military operations and other actions against alleged African National Congress (ANC) facilities and personnel on the territories of neighboring states. Under the pressure of the state of emergency, blacks inside South Africa have been forced increasingly to turn from near-term revolutionary scenarios to a search for viable long-term strategies for challenging the SAG. The ANC, faced with the reality of the state of emergency and overwhelming South African Defense Force military power, has concentrated on political and diplomatic action to bolster its position within South Africa and internationally, while still conducting, abetting, and endorsing acts of revolutionary violence within South Africa. Imposition of sanctions by the United States and other members of the international community has strengthened SAG determination to resist international pressure and has resulted in a sharp deterioration of U.S.-SAG relations. These sanctions have, however, been perceived in Africa as an affirmation of American commitment to South Africa's disenfranchised citizens. The Front Line States (FLS) have thus far stepped back from the brink of a self-defeating sanctions confrontation with the SAG. or In light of these developments, the U.S. policy objectives and strategy set forth in NSDD 187 have been reviewed. The U.S. will seek: -The earliest possible end of apartheid in South Africa and its replacement through negotiations by a democratic, non-racial constitution which provides for equal political and economic opportunity for all South Africans. Declassified/Released on 5-17-91 INPHASSEFIED under provisions of E.O. 12356 bv S. Fillev. National Security Council