S.A. action eases East-West strain

Press, 30 August 1977, Page 8

S.A. action eases East-West strain

NZPA' Washington Co-operation earlier this month between the Soviet Union and the United States in dissuading South Africa from proceeding with a nuclear bomb test, has contributed to an easing in relations between the Carter Administration and the Kremlin, high-ranking White House officials said yesterday, the “New York Times” has reported.

The officials said they were also impressed that Mr Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet Communist Party chief, had chosen to communicate privately with President Carter on the South African matter, in what they called a fairly reasonable tone and spirit.

The Soviet leadership could have simply denounced South Africa’s nuc.ear developments publicly and blamed the western supply of nuclear technology and fuel for the advance toward detonation of a bomb, a White House official remarked.

From shortly after his inauguration until midsummer Mr Carter’s relations with the Soviet Union were under considerable strain because of the Administration’s criticism of the Soviet Union’s treatment of dissidents. The Administration official said that another indication of an improvement in atmosphere between Washington and Moscow was the Soviet leader’s observation on August 16. in a toast during the visit of President Tito of Yugoslavia, that Mr Carter’s speech a month earlier on relations with the Soviet Union had contained

statements that sounded positive. The officials noted that the toast followed by only one day, a private communication from Mr Carter to Mr Brezhnev, stating that American reconnaissance had confirmed Soviet intelligence reports that South Africa was building facilities in the Kalahari Desert for detonating an atomic device. The original Brezhnev communication on the South African nuclear operation did not indicate what intelligence sources had provided the indication that an atomic test was imminent. A United States intelligence official said it appeared that the Soviet Union had refined its photographic reconnaissance from orbiting satellites, using newly devel-

oped high-resolution cameras manufactured for this purpose by the Carl Zeiss optical works in Jena, East Germans'. American reconnaissance photography established a few days after the Brezhnev message that South Africa had built a testing tower and other structures required for a nuclear detonation in the Kalahari Desert. A White House official said that discovery caused the Carter Administration to launch a large-scale diplomatic effort to persuade South Africa to stop preparations for an atomic test.

Britain, as a power long connected with South Africa through the Commonwealth, and West Germany and France, as suppliers of important nuclear equipment to South Africa, were informed and invited to join in the [ diplomatic offensive. They readily accepted.

The Administration official said that the Soviet Union was left out of the diplomatic activity, except for the exchange between Mr Carter and Mr Brezhnev, because it has no relations with the South African Government. After the initial delivery of the Brezhnev message there were several follow-up exchanges with the Soviet Union, the White House aide said, but after that none at all. The White House officials remarked that the Soviet Union and the United States had been co-operating closely and successfully for almost three years in efforts to curb the spread of the ability' to make nuclear weapons.