Issue Date: November 23, 1984 Angola Offers Cuban Pullout, South Africa Sees Talks PRINT EMAIL SAVE TEXT • U.S. Acted as Mediator • UNITA Demands Role U.S. Acted as Mediator South Africa Nov. 20 announced that it would begin negotiations with Angola on the withdrawal of South African forces from Angola's south. The announcement followed Angola's offer of a Cuban troop withdrawal from its own country in return for certain concessions by South Africa. [See 1984 South African Prime Minister Tours Western Europe; Seeks to Break Isolation] South Africa expected the talks to be at the ministerial level. No date for them was set. Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had Nov. 11 offered the withdrawal of most of the Cuban soldiers stationed in his country if their departure could be part of a larger settlement with South Africa. It was the first time the Angolan government had made such an offer. Dos Santos said that before the Cuban soldiers would leave Angola, South Africa would have to withdraw its own forces from Angola's south and from neighboring Namibia (South-West Africa). He called for the withdrawal from Namibia to be conducted under the terms of United Nations Security Council resolution 435, which required Namibian elections. Dos Santos also called for South Africa to cut off its support for the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). He said this had to include removal of UNITA bases in Namibia. Dos Santos offered his conditions speaking at a public rally in the city of Uige. The proposal followed efforts by the U.S. State Department to act as a mediator between the two countries. State Department representatives in October had met separately with officials of both African countries. After the Angolan offer, South African Foreign Minister Roelof Botha met on Nov. 15 and 16 with Chester Crocker, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Botha issued a Nov. 16 statement on the discussion saying that "trilateral discussions between the Republic of South Africa, the United States and Angola could follow." UNITA Demands Role UNITA's leader Nov. 9 demanded a role in any talks between the Angolan government and South Africa. He threatened stepped-up military action if he was ignored. "I do not want to rock the boat. I want to be part of it," Jonas Savimbi told reporters, referring to the possible talks. He declared that UNITA was "ready and available" to discuss a coalition regime with the Angolan government. Savimbi, in a statement he read aloud before his soldiers, praised both U.S. President Ronald Reagan and South African President Pieter W. Botha. However, he warned that UNITA was "not of the view to accept being traded in for a fictitious withdrawal of the Cubans from Angola." UNITA was supported with South African aid. Savimbi spoke at a rebel camp in Jamba, in southern Angola.
Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation: "Angola Offers Cuban Pullout, South Africa Sees Talks; U.S. Acted as Mediator." Facts On File World News Digest: n. pag. World News Digest. Facts On File News Services, 23 Nov. 1984. Web. 18 July 2011.