communitiesewritten.the more far-~ady has, thatnce lies in re-d in the past.his leadershipa dramatic--would the re-C in proposedhere it is often;e it, the most.~ who instinc-ty to heal andf in the mindsment, as theycluding an endside South Af-lent, sustainedml outcome werocess of trans- each side of at minimize thele will to denytial power and is an irresisti-tience for time-rying paths for~uraged. Everyof the people--the outside can~ .lear and which~lin A. Thomas,vember 1. 1985onr the casual reader the question may arise: Why South Africa? Or for onealready familiar.with the subject: Why South Africa again? The African continent is the only major area in the world where the UnitedStates does not have a history of close involvement. But things are changing.Three African countries--Nigeria, Libya, and Algeria--supply the UnitedStates with almost 40 percent of its imported oil. There is increasing strategicinterest on the part of the superpowers in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.South Africa itself has resources that are valued by the West. The forces ofAfrican nationalism, checked for a time on the banks of the Zambezi River,have moved south to the Limpopo. The South African army is fighting Africannationalist forces along the Namibia-Angola border. Over recent years, thelevel of Soviet, Cuban, and other Communist states' involvement in Africa hasincreased. We cannot ignore South Africa. What happens in that country affects theUnited States. The uniqueness of apartheid attracts world attention. "Whatsets South Africa apart from other countries that have equally oppressivehuman rights records," a U.S. senator said not long ago, "is that its policiesare based on race, made 'legal' through legislation, and justified in the nameof defending the West from Communism." Most Americans, when asked to focus on it, deplore apartheid. But theydisagree sharply on what policy the United States should adopt toward SouthAfrica. Some urge a broad assault on apartheid: wide-ranging economic sanc-tions, perhaps even aid for groups beginning to wage an armed struggle againstthe South African government. Others back selective pressures but shrinkfrom military involvement of any sort. Some would rely largely on moralsuasion. Others argue that however strongly we disapprove of apartheid, SouthAfrica's management of its affairs is its own business, xv