Angola: A Matter Of Timing

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When South Africa, Angola and Cuba agreed in principle last month to end the conflict in southwestern Africa, all sides agreed to conduct further talks in secrecy. Last week Pretoria broke that understanding by publicly offering to pull its 3,000 troops out of Angola by September and to grant independence to neighboring Namibia, which it now administers, by next June. South Africa demanded that Cuba also withdraw its estimated 50,000 troops from Angola by June. In response, Cuban Negotiator Carlos Aldana Escalante said it was "preposterous and unrealistic" for his country's soldiers to leave Angola within a year. But when the latest negotiations ended last week, the parties issued a joint communique stating that they had agreed on a "sequence of steps" for peace.