South Africa Reagan's Abrupt Reversal

The rising heat from popular and congressional anger over his Administration's tolerant attitude toward South Africa's policy of apartheid was clearly being felt by President Reagan. On Friday, at a hastily called Washington press conference, he conceded that he had spoken "carelessly" last month when he said that South Africa had eliminated racial segregation. An even more dramatic turnaround is in the offing. According to a senior Administration official, the President this week will announce a series of Executive actions that represent a stunning reversal of his Administration's stalwart rejection of legislated economic sanctions against South Africa. The measures to be announced by Reagan, according to the White House official, largely match line for line the seven essential points of the sanctions bill that the Senate is to begin considering this week, but go a step further by placing an embargo on the importation of arms from South Africa. Reagan's Executive action should pre-empt Congress's almost certain passage of the sanctions bill and may thus prevent an angry clash between the White House and Capitol Hill over the issue. In South Africa, where racial violence last week spread for the first time this year to a white suburb, the President's action threatens to upset State President P.W. Botha's desperate attempts to contain the country's economic crisis.

Reagan's change of heart appears to be a major concession to two political realities: he faced defeat in Congress if he continued to resist sanctions, and the bitter fight that would ensue if he attempted to exercise his veto might poison the atmosphere for the entire legislative session. The senior Administration official insisted, however, that the new presidential sanctions do not represent any change in Reagan's views on South Africa. The President, this official said, has always harbored sympathy for the measures in the congressional bill, which a month ago was hammered out by a joint House-Senate conference committee and passed by the House. But by taking matters into his own hands, the official added, Reagan will be thwarting congressional attempts to make foreign policy as well as giving himself "the ability to remove or alter an action."

The measures, said the official, are consistent with the Administration's policy of "constructive engagement," the quiet diplomacy designed to nudge the South African government toward racial reform. To press that point, it is expected, Reagan will announce that he is sending Ambassador Herman Nickel back to South Africa this week. The Ambassador will carry a letter from Reagan and will be charged with urging reforms on Pretoria. Nickel was recalled to Washington in June after South African troops made an incursion into Botswana in search of antigovernment guerrillas.

The President's eight planned actions against South Africa cover all the measures contained in the bill that the Senate is scheduled to debate this week except for a lesser class of sanctions that would be considered a year from now if the South African government had still failed to make any movement toward easing apartheid. The provisions of Reagan's expected Executive action:

An additional $8 million in scholarships will be awarded to blacks in South Africa, and $1.5 million more will be made available to support human rights efforts.