South Africa Eyeball to Eyeball

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Administration officials spent much of last week trying to put together a strategy for averting a veto override in the Senate. They considered but rejected another pre-emptive Executive Order, largely because the President remains as philosophically opposed as ever to sanctions against South Africa. The White House was also ready to name Edward J. Perkins, a career diplomat now serving in Liberia, as the first black U.S. Ambassador to South Africa. Reagan and his advisers decided not to make the announcement last week, on the ground that it might appear to be a blatant political maneuver and, more to the point, probably would not change any Senate votes anyway.

For a while the Administration talked about a special $500 million aid package for black African countries whose economies have been damaged or jeopardized by the political unrest in South Africa. That idea was dropped when it ran into congressional opposition. Finally the Administration debated the previously discussed plan of sending Secretary of State George Shultz to Africa, where he would have the task of trying to explain Administration policy to both black and white African rulers.

No matter what happens on the sanctions vote this week, two of the steps discussed last week are expected to be carried out. Perkins will be named as the new Ambassador to Pretoria, and Secretary Shultz, a reluctant traveler at best, will be dispatched to several African countries later in October.

During a Friday afternoon meeting in White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan's office, the Administration decided to make one final effort to head off defeat. After the veto, the President offered to talk further with congressional leaders and to coordinate action against South Africa more closely with the European Community. Though the White House hoped to avoid specific commitments, it implied that it was willing to go as far as the Europeans on sanctions. At a meeting last month in Brussels, the Community put an embargo on South African iron and steel, among other things, but stopped short of the more drastic step of banning the import of South African coal.

The Administration's original plan for dealing with the veto threat began to unravel two weeks ago when Chief of Staff Regan met with Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Indiana Republican had spent much of the past two months helping draft a bill that he thought Reagan could live with. Lugar, who had originally favored a milder set of sanctions, hoped that Reagan might be persuaded to change his mind and lead the Western alliance in a united action against apartheid.

Three days later stories began to circulate in Washington that Lugar, who generally supports the President, was getting out of line. Said one Administration aide: "We've sent him signals that if he has to buck the White House, he should do it in a quieter manner." Lugar, growing angrier, told the press that a veto would jeopardize U.S. relations with black Africa. "We really need to be on the right side of history on this case," he said. "We are going to have to deal with African countries for many years to come."