The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 17, 1987, Image 7

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 17, 1987, Image 7

Newspaper Page TextWednesday, June 17,1987,/The Battalion/Page 7 World and Nation s Banking giant announces plan o withdraw from South Africa are the,, ... igue. BjKW YORK (Al') — Banking gi- Wos, ; ail Citicorp, lor years ;i major oppo- tjtobai^H 11 <>l tlie corporate exodus Irom il ^ j;:Soiiil) Africa and the only U.S. bank still there, stiid Tuesday it is with- jre sti|| drawing from the racitilly divided ad. WeiH' 01 ?- jajonjdiJB'd^orp said it regrets tlie move Uothei * 1111 ‘ s l eav ' M g l)eciiuse of what it F ' : called increasing constraints on its Hlity to do business in South Af- )uld beifiP 21 olan Ru B^I ) I )<,IK ‘ ,1|S a |> a > theid said the • v Lope' aiinoimceinent by the biggest U.S. >amn holding company is a powerful >erieser s y n, l>ol of the increasing isolation of 1 addur ^""l’ Ulrica’s white minority gov- orHou' l r { ,l,,eiU ‘ l,H l die ef fect of a growing Smith si ' llu ' sl<>r movement to force U.S. companies to leave the country. »'l think it will further shake conli- ■nce in South Alri« a,”said Kosalyn WII, spokesman for the Council on hpnomic Briorities, ;t New York- based group that supports South Af- rican divestment. “I think it’s a re- llection of the amount of pressure brought by religious groups and pension funds that have been work ing for this.” Citicorp said it hits agreed to sell its Citibank N.A. Ltd. South Africa South Af rica in November. A Citicorp statement quoted chairman John S. Reed as saying he “expressed regret tit terminating the corporation's presence in South Af rica, which has had a positive ef fect upon die environment within that “I think it’s a reflection of the amount of pressure brought by religious groups ...” — Rosalyn Will, spokesman for the Council on Economic Priorities subsidiary to First National Bank of Southern Africa Ltd., South Africa’s largest bank, for ISO million rand — about $(>4.5 million at current ex change rates. The sale is expected to be com pleted by the end of this month. First National is a former unit of Barclays Bank of Britain, which left country. The statement said the company felt compelled to withdraw because “current constraints on Citicorp have made it increasingly difficult to meet the needs of its South African clients in a manner they fiave a right to expect.” The New York-based company has operated in South Africa since 1959, but in the past live years its banking operations have shrunk drastically. It no longer lends money to the South African government, and U.S. sanctions imposed on South Africa severely restrict Citi corp’s lending to private businesses there. Citicorp still has about $700 mil lion in private loans outstanding to South African borrowers, said a se nior official who spoke on condition of anonymity, but the money will be repaid via agreements reached ear lier this year with other international banks and die South African gov ernment. In Johannesburg, Chris Ball, First National’s managing director, said he thinks Citicorp’s decision to sell was based partly on pressure from anti-apartheid groups. He said Citi bank's 185 employees would be re tained. Parents go to visit teen-age pilot son in Moscow prison ^Congressmen attack Reagan’s gulf policy r-OU il that?"At wWASHINCTON (Al*) — President Reagan’s icrasktc mjsian Cull policy came under renewed attack butwh Tuesday from congressmen who said it could keouts,b lead to more military casualties, even as the Pen- Bonsaid risks are low for U.S. naval forces. Henale Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D- ledbaxotBC'-’ in his sharpest criticism yet,, labeled as e]T or loP'll linked, poorly developed,” Reagan’s plan to Icott tlrtv igtcct Kuwaiti oil tankers by placing them lin er, Lam (lei American Hags and captains next month. He i slamik| , ' ( l it * s clear the administration did not think Brough” the risks. B$eii. Sam Nunn, D-Ca., chairman of the Sen- ■ Armed Services Committee, said, “I do not think it ought to go ahead now” because too C A. many quest ions remain unanswered. ^ ' 'Ben. William Cohen, R-Maine, agreed, saying, “we should pause before we go ahead” and wail . for more support f rom U.S. allies in Europe. I lr Nunn and Cohen both spoke after a closed-door noting of the Senate Armed Services Commit tee. nt^t^B'lie United States expects to begin escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Chill using eight warships in early July, but may soon replace lomero: thai | ()1(;e wjd, a combat group headed by a bat- a 2-1 It tleshi)), Pentagon sources said, dedans I I Such a move, coming perhaps as early as Au gust, would represent a massive increase in U.S. firepower in the gulf and provide the clearest in dication yet of Reagan’s commitment to protect oil supplies flowing through tfie gulf. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., and other Republicans met with Reagan for lunch and Dole said later, “I think there’s some confusion about the Persian Cull policy . . . there isn’t any consensus among Republicans over it and the administration needs to do a better job of explaining.” Sen. John Warner, R-Va., normally one of Reagan’s strongest supporters on national secu rity issues, said, “I am gravely concerned” about the U.S. policy. Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.L, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the plan “has every potential of engaging us in the war itself” between Iran and Iraq. Kuwait is an Iraqi ally. Pell and Byrd said the U.S. plan was an at tempt to win favor with Arab nations, which are disillusioned with the secret sale of U.S. arms to Iran. Similarly, Rep. Charles Bennett, D-Fla., spon sor of a bill to halt the reflagging, of 11 Kuwaiti tankers, said, “The purpose of this policy seems to be to help the administration recover f rom the disgrace of supplying Iran with missiles in ex change for hostages.” Iran has threatened to attack the Kuwaiti tank ers, which Reagan says will be protected by U.S. Navy ships. Congressional fears have been raised in the wake of last month’s Iraqi missile attack on the frigate USS Stark, which killed 87 U.S. seamen, f raq says the attack was a mistake, an explanation accepted by the United States. The f inal report of a military board of inquiry investigating the attack on the USS Stark has been submitted to the general who heads the U.S. Central Command, Pentagon sources said. The sources declined to speculate on whether the classified report recommended court-martial proceedings against the Stark’s skipper or other ranking of ficers. A day after making a nationally televised de fense of his Persian Cuif policy, die president traveled to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a lun cheon meeting with Senate Republicans. But Dole and other senators said U.S. plans in the oil- rich region weren’t on (he agenda. MOSCOW (AP) — The parents of a West German teen-ager jailed for flying a plane onto Red Square spent three hours at Lefortovo prison Tuesday, visiting their son for the First time since his May 28 arrest and talking with Soviet investigators. In a prepared statement issued by Karl-Heinz and Monika Rust later in the day, the couple said their son, Mathias, “is feeling well, and accord ing to his words he also is being treated well.” The Rusts said their conversation with Mathias was “agreeable” but they declined to answer any ques tions about the meeting, saying “in accordance with our son’s request we are not going to give any further statements during our stay in Mos cow.” A West German Embassy car took the couple to the prison in Moscow that previously held U-2 pilot Fran cis Gary Powers and American jour nalist Nicholas Daniloff. About 15 minutes before the 10 a.m. meeting, the Rusts brushed past reporters without responding to questions. West Germany’s Stern magazine paid the couple’s expenses for the Moscow visit in return for exclusive access to their commentaries, said an embassy official who did not want to be identified by name. Police near the prison moved re porters a block away while the Rusts were inside. After the visit, the cou ple was driven away in a vehicle with a Stern photographer and corre spondent. A West German Embassy spokes man confirmed that the Rusts met with their 19-year-old son for one hour and then with the investigator overseeing the case. Embassy chief for legal and con sular affairs, Gerhard Enver Sch- roembgens, sat in on the meeting be tween the Rusts and their son, but only the embassy translator was al lowed to stay for the discussions with the investigators. West German diplomats are try ing to arrange another visit between the Rusts and their son, the spokes man said. She declined to answer other questions about the Rust case. Tuesday’s meetings were only the second between the jailed pilot and West German officials since the inci dent on May 28. Schroembgens sp>ent 30 minutes with Rust on June 1, when he described the young pilot as “calm” about his detention. Later in the day, several Moscow- based correspondents were invited to the home of Stern’s Moscow re porter Mario R. Dederichs, where the Rusts read their statement about the meeting. Dressed in casual clothes, the cou ple looked tired but calm as they made a statement thanking the So viet government “for the great hap piness of being able to see our son again.” “We hope that this case will come to a positive conclusion soon,” the Rusts said in their statement. Mathias Rust flew from Helsinki, Finland, in a single-engine Cessna, across more than 500 miles of Soviet territory protected by one of the most highly regarded air defense systems in the world. He buzzed Le nin’s mausoleum and other Kremlin landmarks before setting down on the cobblestone expanse between St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin wall. Two days after the incident, the ruling Communist Party Politburo, headed by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, sent Defense Minister Sergei L. So kolov into retirement and fired Air Defenses Chief Alexander I. Koldu nov. No formal charges have been filed against Rust, and Soviet law allows investigators to take up to two months before issuing an indictment against an imprisoned susp>ect. . I’d eeds ;dit. sperift* :’re nd I w” 1 Rocket) match 01? a weekto ofSanf :tssti vard. lirert ig SI 1 iiited fi® 1 sign* af favotf is proud to present ufushion show featuring ie Wednesday at 9:00 pm FREE HURRICANES 8-10 509 University 846-1023

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 17, 1987, Image 7

Are you interested in including a title to our archive?

Follow us!