Wednesday, 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.
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