CM/Res.1148 (XLVIII)
RESOLUTION ON SOUTH AFRICA
The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in its Forty-eighth Ordinary Session, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 19 to 23 May 1988,
Having heard the representatives of the Liberation Movements and having examined the reports of the Liberation Committee and the Secretary-General,
Gravely concerned about the stepping up by the Pretoria regime of acts of aggression and destabilization against the neighboring states,
Deeply concerned with the deteriorating situation resulting from new restrictions imposed on mass organizations, application of strict press censorship, including the suspension of newspapers, continued detention of opponents of the illegal minority racist regime, including children, and the daily killings carried out by the armed forces and police of the regions,
Noting with concern that the continued State of Emergency and the stringent press censorship in South Africa have imposed a veil of secrecy which facilitates the unbridled use of the army, police and murder squads against the mass democratic movement by the Pretoria regime,
Noting with indignation Pretoria’s clamp down on 18 mass organizations and leading activists of the Mass Democratic Movement,
Noting further the impeding legislation designed to restrict foreign funding of humanitarian and anti-apartheid organization inside the country,
Alarmed by the apartheid regime’s nefarious activities of deploying murder squads in Africa, Europe and North America, for the purpose of eliminating its opponents, as evidenced by the recent assassination of Ms. Dulcie September, the ANC Representative in France,
Convinced the comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the apartheid regime remain the principal peaceful means towards the eradication of apartheid and establishment of a non-racial democratic society in South Africa,
Conscious of the growing and important role being played by trade union federations inside apartheid South Africa, particularly by COSATU and NACTU,
Encouraged by the ever growing campaign waged by the Anti-Apartheid movement worldwide in mobilizing the people to exert maximum pressure on their respective governments, especially those in the United States, United Kingdom, France and the Federal Republic of Germany, in order to compel them to make common cause with the rest of the international community in support of sanctions against racist South Africa,
Noting with concern the Pretoria regime’s latest maneuvers aimed at perpetuating the status quo through the intended co-option of black puppets into the apartheid structures,
Reaffirming the OAU’s conviction that only majority rule based on t he principle of universal adult suffering in a non-fragmented South Africa can lead to a just and lasting solution in that country,
Outraged by the Pretoria regime’s continued design towards the judicial murder of the Sharperville Six and over forty other South African patriots sentenced to death for their part in the fight against apartheid:
VEHEMENTLY CONDEMNS racist South Africa for the continued detention, torture and killing of activists of the democratic movement, the muzzling of the press as well as the recent clamp down on the 18 mass organizations and leading activists committed to peaceful change;
DEMANDS the immediate lifting of the State of Emergency and the removal of the restrictions imposed on the anti-apartheid organizations and individuals;
CALLS UPON the international community to relentlessly sustain its efforts to save the lives of the Sharperville Six and more than forty other patriots sentenced to death in South Africa;
DEPLORES the use of the veto by the US and UK against resolutions demanding imposition of comprehensive mandatory sanctions;
VEHEMENTLY CONDEMNS racist South Africa for the cold blooded murder of Ms. Dulcie September, the Chief Representative of the ANC in France as well as the deployment, by the regime, of hit squads in Africa, Europe, North America and throughout the world for the purpose of eliminating leaders of the National Liberation Movement;
STRONGLY URGES the international community to intensify the campaign for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and detainees including Nelson Mandela and to compel the apartheid regime to accord prisoner of war status to all captured freedom fighters in accordance with the Geneva Convention and its relevant Protocols;
CALLS ON the international media based in South Africa to defy the regime’s restrictions on the media and in accordance with their professional ethics, to reflect accurately the state of affairs prevailing in the country;
REITERATES the call for the imposition of comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the apartheid regime, by the UN Security Council in accordance with Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter;
COMMENDS the anti apartheid movement in the countries whose governments are opposed to sanctions for their tireless efforts in sustaining the sanctions campaign, especially in the United States, where the Free South Africa Movement has brought about a powerful pro- sanctions constituency, resulting in the ever growing movement for a total isolation of racist South Africa;
MANDATES the Secretary-General to ensure the immediate contact with the United States Law makers in order to solicit their support towards the adoption, in June 1988, of the Sanction Bill B300;
REQUESTS the Current Chairman, the Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General, to periodically convey Africa’s concern and demands to all those countries that continue to collaborate with racist South Africa;
DECIDES to work towards the convening of the meeting of the UN Security Council for the purpose of examining the totality of racist South Africa’s reprehensible policies and acts of state terrorism in South Africa, Namibia and the region in order to undertake appropriate actions including comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the apartheid regime;
INSTRUCTS the African Group at the Unite Nations to work towards the convening of a meeting of the UN Security Council and to ensure its success;
RESOLVES to sustain the armed struggle against the Pretoria regime and its occupational forces in Namibia, and CALLS UPON the National Liberation Movements to intensify their actions against the regime and its institutions of oppression and repression;
FURTHER CALLS for increased diplomatic, material and financial support to National Liberation Movements recognized by the OAU;
COMMENDS all the leaders and activists of the mass democratic movement in South Africa, especially those religious leaders who recently led a march to parliament in total defiance of the Pretoria regime’s threats and blackmail designed to secure their acquiescence;
SUPPORTS the decision by the Congress of South Africa Trade Union (COSATU) calling for “3 days of national action” to protest the regime’s restrictions on the labour and democratic movement.