Office of the Historian

149. Report Prepared by the Interagency Group on Rhodesia1

Washington, undated

REPORT OF THE INTERAGENCY GROUP ON RHODESIA

SUMMARY: As an element of the State Department’s southern African policy review, the Bureau of African Affairs convened an Interagency Group, composed of representatives of other State bureaus and the Departments of Justice, Commerce and Treasury, to determine what actions, subsequent to the repeal of the Byrd Amendment, the United States could take to demonstrate opposition to, and increase pressure on the Smith regime in Rhodesia.2

The measures which the Interagency Group ajudged to be practical and advisable at this time relate to the following issues:

A. Chrome—The Department of Treasury will institute testing and certification procedures to ensure that Rhodesian chromium, ferrochrome, and certain chrome-bearing steel products produced in third countries from these Rhodesian minerals are not imported into the United States.

B. The Rhodesian Information Office—The United States actively supports and co-sponsors a resolution in the United Nations to expand [Page 405] sanctions to operate against overseas offices of the Smith regime.3 If passed, the Treasury Department intends to take action which will terminate the functioning of the Rhodesian Information Office as an official voice of the Smith regime and to prevent the establishment of any official Rhodesian offices in the future.

C. Sanctions and bilateral diplomacy—The State Department will inform certain foreign governments that the USG is genuinely concerned about violations of sanctions and express our willingness to assist those governments in their enforcement attempts.

D. South African trade—The US will introduce a resolution into the Security Council which will require member states to take specific steps to ensure that their trade with South Africa, particularly with respect to chrome imports, does not involve goods which might be diverted to, or from, Rhodesia.

E. Foreigners in the Rhodesian Army—The U.S. will introduce a resolution in the UN to require member states to take steps to discourage the enlistment of its citizens into the Rhodesian military.4

The Interagency Group seriously considered, but determined to make no recommendation concerning the possibilities of prohibiting the use of U.S. passports for travel to Rhodesia, reinterpreting U.S. sanctions regulations to govern U.S. corporate subsidiaries overseas, and prohibiting the re-export of goods produced with U.S. technology from South Africa to Rhodesia.

[Omitted here is discussion of the five issues.]

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 3, PD–05 [2]. Secret. This study was prepared in response to Presidential Directive NSC–5 (see Document 268). Tarnoff submitted the report to Brzezinski under an April 16 covering memorandum. The Departments of State, Commerce, Justice, and the Treasury participated in the preparation of this report.↩
  2. In an April 27 memorandum to the Chairman of the African Interagency Group (Schaufele), Brzezinski noted Carter’s approval of the proposed courses of action on the importation of chrome and the closure of the Rhodesian Information Office. (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Country Chron File, Box 44, Rhodesia: 2–6/77)↩
  3. UN Resolution 31/154B was adopted by the General Assembly on December 20, 1976, by a vote of 124 to 0 with 7 abstentions. (Yearbook of the United Nations, 1976, pp. 159–160)↩
  4. UN Resolution 32/116A was adopted without a vote on December 16, 1977. (Yearbook of the United Nations, 1977, pp. 202–203)↩