From: poam@giraffe.ru.ac.za (AK MARQUARD)
Subject: Re: Death of Evil Empire II
Summary: LINKS WITH THE RSA
Keywords: CIA, EVIL EMPIRE
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Distribution: WORLD
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 14:22:22 GMT

In article <1dbukbINN558@gap.caltech.edu> kwp@wag.caltech.edu (Kevin W. Plaxco) writes:
>From: kwp@wag.caltech.edu (Kevin W. Plaxco)
>Subject: Re: Death of Evil Empire II
>Date: 5 Nov 92 20:02:19 GMT
>In article <1992Nov4.093110.5896@shannon.ee.wits.ac.za> philip@concave.cs.wits.ac.za (Philip Machanick) writes:
>
>>What chance I wonder that the US will stop supporting venal dictatorships
>>in the Clinton world order? At least they don't have the Soviet Union
>>as an excuse any more for interfering in other country's politics.
>
>>Philip Machanick
>>Computer Science Dept, Univ of the Witwatersrand, 2050 Wits, South Africa
>
>I too hope this is the case.  We've had a pretty piss poor record in
>this arena.  But it is my opinion that things have already started to
>improve.  We (via Herb Cohen, undersecretary of state for african 
>affairs) have already told Savimbi to give up the ghost.
>(I have heard rumors that South Africa has also told him to expect no
>support.  Is this true?) And, somewhat to my suprise, even the Reagan
>administration NEVER supported RENAMO.   I mean these guys (RENAMO)
>are so morally bankrupt that even though they were trying to overthrow
>a MARXIST regiem the contra-supporting-Grenada-invading-Muhujadeen-
>supplying Reagan Administration balked at supporting them.
>
>Has South Africa finally stopped suporting them?
>
>Here's my list of "Post colonial meddeling by white ruled countries" 
>in Africa, in order of importance (degree of harm).  Please let me 
>know what you think.
>
>South Africa
>USSR/Cuba
>USA
>France
>
>Does any one else even make it on the post 1979 list?

In terms of South African destabilisation in the region - it is difficult to 
speak of the USA and RSA being different on this issue. The CIA has a well-
defined role in Southern Africa, and have had for three decades or so. 
Initial CIA involvement can be traced back to the wave of decolonisation of 
the 50's, where at the height of the cold war, opposing sides tried to 
recruit African dictators for various purposes. After this there are some 
notable examples. In the early 1960's Nelson Mandela, having successfully 
eluded the South African police for several months, attempted to set up a 
meeting with some American officials. These turned out to be CIA operatives 
who betrayed him to the South African police. The CIA operative in question 
recently boasted about this feat at a dinner party. After this, notable 
involvement was in Angola in 1975, where there seems to have been some 
confusion between Washington and the local CIA about the merits of the South 
African invasion. Subsequently, US support for UNITA is well known.
hat is not so well known however, which is becoming increasingly plain, is 
the degree to which the CIA and other clandestine representatives of the USA 
propped up the apartheid regime militarily. It seems that South Africa 
belonged to a network of "pariah" countries all supported by the USA (mainly 
Israel, Taiwan and SA) which collaborated in weapons development and 
distribution in the Third World. American involvement in this is quite well 
known - for instance, there is considerable evidence that SA played a large 
role both in the Irangate and Iraqgate affairs, using its clandestine arms- 
and oil smuggling (both subject to innternational sanctions) to funnel arms 
to the middle east. A lot of SA oil in the 70's and 80's is rumoured to have 
come from Kuwait. There is also considerable evidence that SA and ISrael 
collaborated on a nuclear arms development programme. While all these 
interest werew sometimes contradictory (e.g. the USA was not at all happy 
about SA's nuclear prog.) there seems to have been enough common interest to 
sustain these connections. I have also met SA conscripts who were trained by 
CIA operatives in Namibia for counter-insurgency operations against SWAPO, 
and there is evidence to suggest that Israel was also involved in the 
support and training of RENAMO in the 80's. I can't see that it was in the 
USA's regional interest at the time not to have a destabilised Mozambique, 
although there is no direct evidence of CIA involvement. It seems that there 
were often conflicting interests within the USA, specifically between the 
State Dep't and the CIA, as well as regional interests, e.g. a SA commando 
was captured by MPLA forces in Cabinda on their way to blow up an American-
owned oil installation on a tip from the CIA. The fact that taxes from this 
US oil complany were paying both for the MPLA war effort and also for the 
UNITA one, suggests that the USA was more interested in having a "low-
intensity" stability in Southern Africa with the apartheid regime at its 
centre than peace, democracy and even capitalism in any one country.

Also, I would have doubts about listing the USSR/Cuba second in "
interference", given the recent events in Angola - perhaps this is the case 
in central and northern africa (ethiopea springs to mind), but a cuban 
withdrawl without a Namibian peace settlement (specifically while the 
cold war was still on) would simply have led to more suffering for the 
people of the sub region, and far less democracy, justice and peace, let 
alone prosperity. The Cuban role was very particular, whereas the USSR had 
much more to do with propping up inept and corrupt governments - the last 
USSR proposals before its demise (1988/9, I think) for the sub-region, were 
far more racist and conservative than anything tha National Party is now 
proposing and sound as if they were written by the SA far right.

Andrew Marquard

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Andrew Marquard, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

  "So long as there is still a single beggar, there is still myth.
  Only with the last beggar's dissappearance, would myth be appeased."
                                            Walter Benjamin
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