America definitely out of Olympics

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 1

America definitely out of Olympics

NZPA Bonn The. United States will not take part in the Moscow Olympics since there is no sign that the Soviet Union will meet today’s deadline to remove troops from Afghanistan, a United State Department spokesman (Mr Hodding Carter) has said. “The United States set a deadline for its decision on whether to participate, a decision to be contingent on the withdrawal of Soviet troops,” Mr Carter told reporters. “Today is the day on which that decision was going to be based. It is clear there is no sign of a Soviet withdrawal,” he said. “The President has made clear that our decision is therefore irrevocable. We

will not participate in the Olympics in Moscow.”

Mr Carter made the announcement after talks between the Secretary of State (Mr Cyrus Vance) and the West German Foreign Minister (Mr HansDietrich Genscher).

Mr Vance flew to Bonn late yesterday on the first leg of a four-nation European tour seeking a united Western response to the Soviet invasion.

_ Earlier, President Carter, his hand strengthened by the support of Congress and a majority of Ameri-

cans, declared on the eve of the expiry of his target date for a Soviet withdrawal: “That deadline will not be changed.” Mr Genscher and other West Germany Government cabinet members have publicly said West Germany should not send a team to Moscow if the United States boycotted the competition. But the West Germany Government has so far not made its final decision public. The United States Olympic Committee, a private body independent of Gov-

ernment control, went to the International Olympic Committee to convey Mr Carter’s request for a postponement, boycott, or transfer of the Games.

But the 1.0. C., meeting last week-end at Lake Placid, where the 1980 Winter Olympics are being held, said the 'Moscow. Games would go ahead.

The New Zealand Government would not withhold passports of sportsmen and sportswomen and intending spectators who wanted to visit the Moscow Olympics, said the

Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) in Hamilton yesterday. In response to the announcement that the United States could take such action against its citizens, Mr Muldoon said New Zealand was not the United States.

“There is no change in our policy,” he said. “It has been clearly stated.” The United States Secretary of Defence (Mr Harold Brown) told reporters' after a Presidential session with about 100 members of Congress that he did

not expect a real Soviet troop withdrawal. Mr Brown also said that the Soviet troops were having a difficult time in Afghanistan, especially in the country. “Whether they will try to pacify (the country) or build up an Afghan army, I don’t know,” he said.

The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan was expected to be the main focus of talks scheduled in the White House today between Mr Carter and the Kenyan President, Mr Daniel Arap Moi.

President Moi, who arrived on Tuesday, said last week that he had agreed to allow the United States to use facilities in Kenya for its forces in any emergency in the Gulf area. Oman and Somalia also have agreed to extend similar help to the United States, according to United States officials.

The possibility of the 1.0. C. taking into account a growing chorus of foreign government support, left open the possibility that it would review the

issue after the Winter Games at Lake Placid. The State Department says 50 governments, including some important sports powers, have indicated support for Mr Carter’s argument that going to Moscow ' -oul'i condone the Soviet thru •: into Afghanistan. Of these, 24 have formally backed the United States. In spite of the President’s urgings that the "oviet Union should pay for its military venture that' threatens world peace, the U.S.O.C. still held C"t a faint hope

of a solution that would enable Amerlcian athletei to travel to Moscow. Mr Carter, bolstered bv almost unanimous support from the 565-member United State- Congress and public opinion polls backing his s-tanc", emphasised his deadline on a Soviet troop withdrawal when he addressed the American Legion on Tuesday. •

Apart from seeking a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, the Carter Administration has embargoed grain sales and ex-

ports of ratnology and n .i, e second., ification of ’- Lifn ititiqiTj-, Strategic Arms Treaty. ke to the .- Mr Cart LeXn% n American ser<r ganisation of f vicemen, as u'c v nce ) . of State (Mr C\ ru f ® * Eur<i? began a tOU F 0 , o ° c pean countries> -m response -;. nate the Wes ter tf O n./ to the Soviet interver in Afghanistan. sh H" is “r s . : ■hat he would use force n necessary to .P rot , We are Gulf area, saying. We are capable of respon^ n n ?imost threat to reace m almo any area of the Worl(L_