AROUND THE WORLD
South Africa Investment declines THE FOLLOWING information on United States investment in South Africa was quoted in the French journal Marches Tropicaux of March 28, 1986.
The policy of withdrawing assets from enterprises who do business in South Africa has now hit Wall Street itself according to the Wall Street Journal of March 4.
American companies who want to stay in South Africa are finding it more and more difficult to resist the twin pressure of unrest in South Africa and the protests in the United States. Result: they are leaving the country at an increased rate.
Very influential American companies like General Electric, Mariott Corp. and Phibro-Salomon Inc. have recently announced their withdrawal from South Africa. Moreover, accor ding to several representatives of the business world, the numbers going over to the conclusion that the minority regime in Pretoria either cannot or will not introduce reforms, could increase.
Efforts to stem the flow of American legislative documents banning investment in South Africa have failed because the movement for disinvestment has grown. Up until now 16 states and 56 towns in the US have adopted measures to restrict investment and the purchase of goods from companies with investments in South Africa.
In spring 1985 a section of the business world in the United States had tried to convince the country that to withdraw from South Africa would only make Black people suffer and would deprive US companies of a means of putting pressure on the South African government. The deteriorating situation in South Africa has since stifled those voices.
In this regard the Wall Street Journal notes that there exists in US business circles a belief that the speedy release of Nelson Mandela is essential if an increased tendency toward disinvestment of US firms from South Africa is to be avoided.
This movement was already perceptible in 1985 when 28 US companies ceased all activity in the country although 257 were still active at the beginning of 1986, according to that daily journal, quoting statistics compiled by a private organization.
Furthermore, for the first time for a long while, last year, no Us company established new new investments in South Africa according to the Wall Street Journal. El Salvador Trade unions unite LAST FEBRUARY 8 the principal Salvadoran trade-union confederations united to form the National Union of Salvadoran Workers (UNTS). The organization of UNTS, which has been described as "the most important unification in the whole history of the Salvadoran working class, includes the Confederation of Cooperatives of El Salvador (COACES), the People's Democratic Union (UPD), the Confederation of Salvadoran Workers (CTS), the Professional Association of the Employees of the Ministry of Economics (AGEMHA), the teachers' union (ANDES June21), the Social Security Trade Union (STISS), the National Trade Union Federation of Salvadoran Workers (FENASTRAS), the Committee, the Association of Telecommunications Workers (ASTTEL) and other independent unions.
The most important element in this trade-union regroupment has been the participation of the UPD, a structure which was created in 1980 through the impetus of the Christian democracy. More particularly the UPD had entered into an alliance with the Christian Democratic Party which facilitated the Napoleon Duarte government's rise to power. The fact that the UPD has now clearly placed itself in the camp of the opposition trade-union movement illustrates the growing isolation of the regime. COACES was organized in July 1983, and some of its members participate in the UPD. And as for AGEMHA, it led the wave of demands of the public sector workers in 1985.
A National Assembly for Workers' Survival brought together about 500 delegates from 100 different organizations. It was decided at this convention to concentrate the forces of the workers' and trade-union movement in the fight against the economic policy of Jose Napoleon Duarte.
Basic to this struggle is the demand
International Viewpoint 21 April 1986
for the withdrawal of the economic measures announced by the government at the end of last January, which anticipated, among other things, a 100 per cent devaluation of the currency and an increase in the price of fuel and of transportation tariffs.
The "Unitary declaration of Salvadoran workers organized in trade unions, professional associations and cooperatives," which was adopted at this meeting, also contains a series of criticisms of the regime's economic policy and a demand addressed to the Duarte government that it resume the dialogue with the FMLN and the FDR. The document declares that trade-union unity will contribute "in the most serious and responsible way to instituting peace in El Salvador" and the UNTS will support "national efforts leading to a dialogue between the conflicting parties."
The formation of UNTS is an important step in the process of recomposition of the mass movements which has been seen in action since the beginning of 1985 (see International Viewpoint No. 86, November 11, 1985). The February 8 assembly called a national march for the workers' survival for February 21. According to the local press this demonstration in San Salvador drew 50,000 persons.D Mozambique Right-wing offensive AFTER SEVERAL months of setbacks, rebel reactionary forces in Mozambique have launched a new offensive and managed to inflict a severe defeat on President Samora Machel's government.
The recent reconquest by the Mozambique National Resistance (RNM) of the Gorongosa headquarters situated about 122 kilometres from the port of Beira is an important victory. Zimbabwean military personnel stated that 400 rebels made the assault on the camp on the night of February 14, chasing off a thousand Mozambican soldiers who abandoned without a struggle armoured vehicles, anti-aircraft missiles and munitions stocks. The base has its own landing strip, its own electric generators and workshops. It had fallen into Mozambican and Zimbabwean regular army hands only in August of last year following the decision of Zimbabwean prime minister, Robert Mugabe, to send between 10,000 and 15,000 troops to Mozambique to crush the RNM forces.
The new RNM offensive has been made possible through South African aid. This was forthcoming despite
International Viewpoint 21 April 1986 the signing in March 1984, of the Nkomati agreement which supposedly enjoined Mozambique and . South Africa to establish relations of peaceful co-existence. (see International Viewpoint, No. 54, June 4, 1984).
Aid to the RNM is a point of dispute between the South African government and the military lobby, because it cannot be pushed too far if Pretoria wants to take advantage of various political and economic benefits. But South African support for the RNM guerrillas nevertheless continues despite revelations and scandalmongering in South Africa itself showing that the Nkomati agreements are not worth the paper they are written on as far as the government is concerned.
Even though the Mozambican regime keeps up its socialist and anti-imperialist rhetoric it is not viewed in the same way by the Reagan administration as is the Angolan government. Washington is trying to get the latter to expel Cuban troops. In relation to Mozambique, on the other hand, Reagan has adopted a more pragmatic approach, much to the surprise of some of his supporters. Aware of the limitations of this type of regime and with information that the RNM guerrillas are bringing Frelimo [Frente de Libertacao de Mocambique — Mozambican Liberation Front] to its knees, he is more open-minded in this case and has appealed for more US investment.
Samora Machel, the Mozambican head of state, paid a visit to the White House in September 1985, but the US administration could not convince the US Congress to provide military aid. Reagan wanted to play a more subtle game, but he could not explain why Congress should provide aid to Jonas Savimbi's Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) against the existing government whilst supporting the Frelimo government in Mozambique.
The military undermining of the Mozambican regime has come on top of severe economic and social problems, particularly in the rural areas. The colonial heritage combined with ten years of problems and mistakes have contributed to this. The RNM, with South African advice, has used all the opportunities that came its way to destabilize the regime. The retaking of the Gorongosa base has upset the Zimbabwean military command who maintained that the Mozambican troops charged with guarding the camp had received no provisons for three weeks before the assault and that their morale was very low.
The RNM has also stepped up pressure in the Zambezi river valley where many of the most important sugar plantations in the country are located. At least two of these have had to close down recently. They were among those which managed to bring foreign currency into the country.
The RNM has also stepped up its attacks in the Maputo area, using trains and buses as the main targets as well as placing mines on the beach in the south of the town.
### High voltage electricity coming from South Africa have been cut twice this year, and a few weeks ago the government announced that seven passengers travelling on a bus on the Maputo to Swaziland line had been killed and 20 others wounded by RNM commandos.
Harare is paying heavily for its support to neighbouring Mozambique. Although no figures have been pubicly released, it is estimated that Zimbabwean support is costing 325,000 US dollars per day. Robert Mugabe went to the Soviet Union last December partly to get military aid to alleviate the financial burden of the Mozambican operation. Since January, Zimbabwe has been forced to adopt a lower profile, reducing by several thousand the number of foot soldiers in Mozambique; opting for a more defensive strategy in the Beira passage and installing the headquarters for an intervention force at Chimoio. (Zimbabwean troops have been deployed for four years along the Beira passage, which includes a railway, a road and an oil pipeline, and links Zimbabwe to the sea.)
Subscribe Now! atemationa SOUTH AFRICA : Lessons of exemplary struggle Ingeications of the Angle Irish Accord The Sikh problem in the Panjab today 27
LIBYA