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Ji .:-it 1:ej . .......... % 41 1:4 ... ....... ;j: -1..? a i4MI, 3; :1,qff . :A 'i, V it ia vw _____ ________ ______ ~ NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY EVANSTON ILLINOIS L 3 AFRICAN BATTLELINE: American Policy Choices in Southern Africa AFRICAN BATTLELINE; American Policy Choices in Southern Africa by WALDEMAR A. NIELSEN Published for the Council on Foreign Relations by Harper 8 Row, Publishers New York and Evanston KI '(0,ci A, The Council on Foreign Relations is a non-profit organization devoted to the study of political, economic, and strategic problems as related to American foreign policy. It takes no stand, expressed or implied, on American policy. The authors of books published under the auspices of the Council are responsible for their statements of fact and expressions of opinion. The Council is responsible only for determining that they should be presented to the public. For a list of Council publications see pages 153-155. AFRICAN BATrLELINE: AMERICAN POLICY CHOICES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Copyright @ 1965 by Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form. For information, address Council on Foreign Relations, 58 East 68th Street, New York 21 FIRST EDITION Library of Congress catalog card number: 65-21376 Printed in the United States of America by Quinn & Boden Company, Inc., Rahway, N.J. Published by Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated M. K. A.K. In memoriam IO 4218 IN MEMORY OF EDWARD JOHN NOBLE The Policy Book series of the Council on Foreign Relations is published under a grant from the Edward John Noble Foundation in memory of Mr. Noble and his interest in encouraging American leadership. Policy Books of the Council on Foreign Relations It is not always easy to discern where the crises of future years are brewing. But it takes no special gift of clairvoyance to foresee trouble in the southern part of Africa, where the confrontation of growing black nationalism and established white rule carries the threat of race war and international conflict. In some instances, notably in the Republic of South Africa, the whites are entrenched in power and show no sign of yielding or compromising. What the approaching crisis means for the United States, and what should be done in anticipation of it, are questions that deserve urgent attention today. This is a subject full of complexities on which volumes could be written. The main forces at work, however, and the policy considerations which flow from them seem peculiarly suited to the format of the series of Policy Books of the Council on Foreign Relations. These books have a twofold purpose: first, to provide readers in this country and elsewhere with essays and analytical studies of the highest quality on problems of world significance; and second, to contribute to constructive thinking on American policies of the future. They are deliberately kept brief, not with the aim of simplification but to present with a minimum of factual background and detail the reasoned conclusions of individual authors with special experience and qualifications. The Council was fortunate in persuading Waldemar A. Nielsen, President of the African-American Institute, to write this book. Mr. Nielsen came to the African field after many years of work in the affairs of Europe and the Far East. He knows Africa at first hand. He has served for the past two years as chairman of a discussion group on southern Africa which has met at the Council. Thus, he viii / Policy Books of the Council on Foreign Relations has had unique opportunities to observe and to assess the course of African developments. In addition to the news and views which came out of the sessions of the discussion group, Mr. Nielsen had the benefit of the research assistance of Mrs. Annette E. Stiefbold and the advice and comment of a number of specialists invited to meet and discuss his manuscript with him. The Council wishes to thank the following, who were present at a special review meeting: Vernon McKay (Chairman), Ernest A. Gross, Thomas Hovet, Thomas Karis, Helen Kitchen, George Loft, John Marcum and Edwin S. Munger. This is Mr. Nielsen's book. The views are his own, not those of the Council on Foreign Relations or of any group. The Council takes responsibility for the decision to publish it, believing it to be a significant contribution to thought on a subject of some urgency. JOHN C. CAMPBELL Editor Contents I INTRODUCTION The American Relationship with Africa, 5 The United States and Independent Africa, 7 Southern Africa: The Coming Test, 10 II ANGOLA AND MOZAMBIQUE 14 The Setting and the Reality, 15 Nationalism, Rebellion, and the Portuguese Response, 20 The Longer and Broader Prospect, 24 U.N. Actions and the Evolution of U.S. Policy, 27 Recommendations for U.S. Policy, 31 III RHODESIA 36 The Drift Toward Conflict, 37 The Coming Contest for Rhodesia, 46 The Role of Great Britain, 52 Questions for the United States, 55 IV SOUTH AFRICA 59 The United Nations and South Africa, 65 The Evolution of U.S. Policy toward South Africa, 68 The Nature of American Interest in South Africa, 70 The Prospective Calendar of Crisis, 72 Sanctions and South Africa, 79 Sanctions and U.S. Policy, 83 A Course for the United States, 86 ix x / Contents V THE HIGH COMMISSION TERRITORIES 98 The Pattern of Political Change, 100 The South African Response, 103 British Dilemmas, 105 Choices Before the United States, 107 VISOUTHWESTAFRICA 110 Legal Status of the Territory, 111 The Timetable and the Alternatives, 116 South Africa's Possible Response, 117 U.S. Policy Alternatives, 119 VII CONCLUSIONS 127 The Direction and Rate of Change, 128 Role of the Independent African States, 130 The Soviet Union and Communist China, 132 Guidelines for American Policy in Southern Africa, 135 The Diplomatic Instrumentalities Relevant to Change, 140 The Stakes and Prospects over the Longer Term, 146 INDEX 149 AFRICAN BATTLELINE: American Policy Choices in Southern Africa 20/ AN OL (PORT.) SCALE OF MILES 0 200400600 8001000I I Ii - 1 - SOUTHERN AFRICA Chapter I Introduction Across Africa today, a symbolic Battleline is traced. Beginning at its westernmost point, where the borders of the Congo and Angola meet on the Atlantic shore, it moves eastward and southward along Angola's frontier to Victoria Falls on the Zambezi. Thence it follows the great river downstream between Zambia and Rhodesia. At the border of Mozambique the fateful line leaves the river and snakes its way between that Portuguese province and Tanzania until it plunges finally into the Indian Ocean. That twisting line is the moving edge of history. It is not a front where armies face each other in battle array. Rather, it marks the major political division of the Dark Continent today. To its north are the independent African nations, most of them born in a great tide of nationalism which since World War II has successively swept through North Africa, the arid Saharan reaches, the tropical rain forests, and the magnificent highlands of East Africa. To its south are eight countries or territories still controlled by white minorities but under siege by all the revolutionary ideas and influences of the contemporary world. At the Battleline the wave of political transformation has stopped -perhaps only momentarily, perhaps for some time to come. But the struggle which it symbolizes proceeds continuously, on both sides of the line and even beyond the confines of Africa. Indeed, as many of its most important battles have been and will be fought in London, Lisbon, Washington, Moscow, Peking, and the halls of the United Nations as in Addis Ababa, L~opoldville or Johannesburg. 2 / Introduction The African states to the north are increasingly insistent that colonialism and white domination of black populations be swept totally from their continent. Behind their insistence, even discounting for some opportunism and exaggeration in their clamor, the pulse and the heat of deeply felt resentments and convictions are unmistakable. Southward of the line, likewise, the cords of tension are drawing more taut. Increasingly, the whites feel a sense of challenge if not of fear. In differing degree, black nationalist movements have begun to take form-organized and equipped for guerrilla warfare and sabotage in some areas, still divided and feeble in others. The essence of the issue emerges starkly from the population statistics of the number of whites who control, and the number of non-whites who are controlled.' Whites % Non-whites Angola 172,529 3.5 4,657,920 Mozambique 65,798 1.1 5,698,564 Rhodesia 177,1244.6 3,631,356 Basutoland 1,926 0.3 638,748 Swaziland 5,919 2.5 231,112 Bechuanaland 248 0.06 320,427 South West Africa 73,464 13.9 452,540 South Africa 3,088,492 19.3 12,914,305 In their constitutional status there is great diversity among these areas. Some are in effect colonial dependencies of European governments; others have a considerable degree of self-government; and one, the Republic of South Africa, has been an independent state for many years, governed by its own white minority.