From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SOUTH AFRICA: U.N. calls for continuation of oil embargo
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 22:06:06 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SOUTH AFRICA: U.N. calls for continuation of oil embargo


new york, dec 18 (ips) -- the united nations friday reiterated its
stance that the continuation of the 1977 voluntary oil embargo
against south africa should be upheld to pressure the white
minority government in pretoria to dismantle apartheid.

the general assembly adopted a resolution requesting all states
to ''adopt, if they have not already done so, and otherwise
maintain and enforce effective measures prohibiting the supply and
shipping of oil and petroleum products to south africa, whether
directly or indirectly''.

the resolution requests all states to prevent south african
companies from acquiring holdings in oil companies outside south
africa and to deny assistance to south africa in the oil sector,
including in the areas of finance, technology, equipment or
personnel.

the resolution also urges states to take penal action against
companies involved in violating the oil embargo.

friday's action follows a report by the 'inter-governmental
group to monitor the supply and shipping of oil and petroleum
products'. the report notes that because of ''loopholes in the
embargo, such as the lack of effective legislation, (south africa)
has been able to acquire oil and petroleum products''.

the group said it had queried 78 cases of alleged violations
which had occurred mainly during the past 12 months, and that in
most cases, the sea vessels were registered in oil-producing
countries. it also collected information of 252 voyages of 165
ships which made port calls in south africa, mostly in 1991.

the inter-governmental group, established in 1986 by the
general assembly, comprises the 10 states which sponsored friday's
resolution: algeria, cuba, indonesia, kuwait, new zealand,
nicaragua, nigeria, norway, ukraine and tanzania.

chairman of the group, anthony nyakyi, told the general
assembly last month, ''it is a matter of great regret that the
inter-governmental group feels constrained to make the same
recommendations this year (to continue the embargo).

''although a number of positive changes took place in south
africa during the year, the stage of profound and irreversible
changes stipulated in the declaration has not yet been reached,''
he said. (more/ips)

south africa: u.n. calls for continuation of oil embargo(2-e)

south africa: u.n. calls (2)

nyakyi was referring to the 1989 u.n. declaration on apartheid
and its destructive consequences in southern africa which, among
other things, calls for peace negotiations in a climate free of
violence.

the group in its report concludes that the ban should be lifted
only when an interim government representing the majority of the
population of south africa has been established. it says ''a
premature lifting of the oil embargo would be counter-productive
and harm the negotiating process''.

earlier this year, the group appealed to european countries to
continue the action after the european community (ec) decided in
april to lift its seven-year ban on oil to south africa to reward
pretoria for measures it had taken over the last two years.

the measures include the signing of a national peace accord by
the pretoria regime, the african national congress (anc) and other
bodies in sept. 1991, and the launching three months later of the
convention for a democratic south africa (codesa) to oversee the
transition to democracy and put in place the machinery for the
drafting of a new south african constitution.
(end/ips/nl/yjc/92)
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