U.S. Warns South Africa Against Arms Sales to Syria

WASHINGTON — The United States fired a harsh verbal warning at South Africa on Monday, threatening to cut off economic aid if the nation’s leaders go ahead with reported plans to sell military equipment to Syria.

Calling the matter one of “very serious concern,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said that U.S. law prohibits recipients of American aid from selling arms to nations that it has identified as supporting international terrorism.

Syria is one of a handful of nations that fall into that category, mainly because of its policy of sheltering groups that the United States believes are connected with terrorist activities.

“It would be extremely serious if these sales actually occurred,” Burns said. “The United States hopes that the South Africa government will not consummate arms sales to a country that supports terrorism.”

South Africa has been a U.S. ally and is America’s largest trading partner in Africa. But the controversy over the arms reports is the latest in a series of differences that have clouded America’s relations with South Africa since white minority rule ended with the election of Nelson Mandela as president nearly three years ago.

Burns acknowledged that his warning was based only on reports of the planned arms sale and that the United States is trying to determine the exact nature of the equipment involved.

A Johannesburg newspaper, the Sunday Times, reported that the South African government had provisionally approved the sale of tank-mounted missile systems but that a final decision will not be made until next week. Another report described the equipment as tank-firing control systems and said the deal would be worth $650 million.

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At a separate briefing, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry added that the United States has “not independently confirmed that [South Africa] may be trying to transfer tank-firing missile systems to Syria, but we urge the government of South Africa not to go through with the sale.”

He added that, if not resolved quickly, the issue probably will be brought up by Vice President Al Gore during a scheduled visit to South Africa next month.

South Africa is a major recipient of U.S. aid, this year getting $82.7 million, mainly to help build democratic institutions and aid the country’s black population, which suffered under apartheid rule.

Since 1992, the United States has provided nearly $600 million in economic and development aid to South Africa. During that time, Mandela’s government has been involved in occasional clashes with the United States.

Last year, for example, South Africa angered the United States and several West European nations when Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo traveled to Libya on an official visit, embraced dictator Moammar Kadafi and then issued a joint statement demanding an end to “unjust sanctions” imposed on the Libyan regime by the United Nations.

Those sanctions followed Kadafi’s refusal to turn over two men suspected of masterminding the 1988 bombing of Pan American Airways Flight 103 that blew up over Scotland, killing 270 people, including 189 Americans.

Mandela subsequently has defended invitations to Kadafi and Cuban President Fidel Castro to visit South Africa, arguing that both leaders spoke out strongly against apartheid at a time when many Western countries were dealing with the white regime.

Conversely, the United States refused to support Mandela’s call for an international oil embargo against Nigeria in 1995 after the military government there executed a prominent author. Nigeria is a major supplier of oil to the United States, in addition to being a large debtor to this country and much of Western Europe.