272. Telegram From the Department of State to the Consulate in Cape Town1

85992. Eyes Only for Amb Bowdler at OOB from the President. Subject: Meeting With Prime Minister Vorster.

1. I would like you to meet as soon as possible with Prime Minister Vorster to discuss further my March 23 conversation2 with Foreign Minister Botha about sending an emissary to meet with the Prime Minister. I look forward to learning Vorster’s reactions to the following points which I would like you to convey to Vorster from me:

2. I have learned of the preliminary South African reactions to UK Foreign Secretary Owen’s visit regarding Southern Rhodesia, and to the Western demarche on Namibia.3 The United States supports these initiatives. We are prepared to play a role in a constitutional conference on Southern Rhodesia, and believe that the framework advanced on Namibia—UN Security [Council] Resolution 3854—offers the best basis for resolving that question peacefully, and in a manner acceptable internationally and internally.

3. I believe that it could be mutually profitable for a U.S. emissary to have a full and candid exchange of views with Vorster on Southern Rhodesia, Namibia, and the future political evolution of South Africa, all questions for which Prime Minister Vorster has an important responsibility. My emissary would set forth our position concerning the need [Page 814] for progress on all three matters, and our belief that U.S. relations with South Africa are approaching a watershed.

4. Progress on these issues will allow us to build the kind of positive relationship we would like to see between our two governments.

5. If real progress can be made at such a meeting, I am prepared to have a high-level emissary, conceivably Vice President Mondale, meet with Vorster.

6. Should, on the other hand, it be unlikely that a meeting at this time will produce significant results, it might, quite frankly, be preferable to await a more propitious moment, and continue our contacts through normal diplomatic channels.

7. I would appreciate it if he would convey his own candid views to me through you. Vorster may also wish to use this occasion to give you the assessment of the situation in Southern Africa which Foreign Minister Botha told me his government would be preparing for us.

8. For Ambassador Bowdler: Should Vorster raise the question of where a meeting would be held, you should reply that the place would be worked out depending upon circumstances existing at the time. Should he specifically mention meeting in South Africa, you should say that this is not excluded, but would depend upon whether significant concrete developments could be achieved, pointing out that this would be needed in order to present a positive framework for the contacts with South Africans of different races and political beliefs which a high-level emissary would have to have during a visit to South Africa. Best regards.

Christopher
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P840086–0022. Secret; Immediate; Nodis. Drafted by Brzezinski; cleared by Carter and in S/S; approved by Vance. Sent for information Immediate to the White House.
  2. See Document 269.
  3. See Tab A, Document 50.
  4. Adopted unanimously on January 30, 1976, the resolution required South Africa to withdraw from Namibia and reaffirmed the United Nation’s legal responsibility over Namibia. For text of the resolution, see Yearbook of the United Nations, 1976, pp. 782–783.