LESOTHO: WESTERN NATIONS PLEDGE MORAL AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO BLACK AFRICAN STATES AT CLOSE OF SADCC CONFERENCE.

Record ID: 343038

  • Title: LESOTHO: WESTERN NATIONS PLEDGE MORAL AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO BLACK AFRICAN STATES AT CLOSE OF SADCC CONFERENCE.
  • Date: 29th January 1983
  • Summary: 1. GV EXTERIOR Conference building in Maseru 0.06 2. SVs Delegates arriving for final conference session (3 shots) 0.25 3. SCU Swedish Foreign Minister Lennard Bodstroem speaking (ENGLISH SOT) (2 shots) 1.56 4. SV Netherlands Minister of Co-operation Mrs. Eggie Schoo speaking (ENGLISH SOT) 1.56 5. GV INTERIOR Conference hall with delegates 1.59 6. European Economic
  • Embargoed: 13th February 1983 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MASERU, LESOTHO
  • Country: Lesotho
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5YW98TDSL0RTKRH3F5MW7D9FV
  • Story Text: MASERU, LESOTHO

    Western nations have pledged moral and material support for nine black Southern African countries striving to lessen economic independence on white-ruled South Africa. The third annual meeting of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference, held in Lesotho's capital Maseru on January 27 and 28, has been promised 200 million dollars for development schemes over the next four years. The pledge, made by 35 donor nations and agencies, raises to 1.6 billion dollars the amount allocated to the SADCC since it was formed in 1980. It represents almost half the total required by SADCC members to develop transport, communications, agriculture and industry into the 1990s. Western donors, including Sweden and members of the European Economic Community (EEC), also condemned South Africa's actions against neighbouring black states and called for an immediate halt to Pretoria's interference in the region. In their final communique, all conference participants strongly condemned deliberate interference by South Africa which affected the economic stability of the SADCC member-nations--Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Mr. Lennart Bodstroem, told delegates Pretoria's policies in the region were aimed at preserving the prerogatives of a small white minority in South Africa. The Netherlands Minister of Co-operation, Mrs. Eggje Schoo, called for effective retaliatory measures against Pretoria's apartheid policies and denounced its alleged involvement in a raid near Maseru on the opening day of the SADCC conference. The ECC Commissioner for Development, Monsieur Edgard Pisani, urged donor nations to help black African states defeat Pretoria's attempts at de-stabilising neighbouring economies. Three SADCC donors -- the United States, Britain and West Germany -- are major trading partners of white-ruled South Africa.

    <strong>Source: REUTERS - LOUIS BREYTENBACH</strong>
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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