ABSTRACT
The black Africans had forced South Africa into a new diplomatic posture, but the relative strengths of white and black Africa resulted in a reasonably static situation, a diplomatic plateau of uncertain duration. The South Africans were flexing their diplomatic muscles through the summer and fall of 1970. An interlude of high diplomacy took place in late January 1972 in Addis Ababa where the Security Council held its first meeting away from headquarters, at the behest of the African states. The newly prominent effort of the Africans was to obtain both symbolic and concrete aid for the liberation movements in southern Africa. The Organization of African Unity initiated the formal effort to obtain legitimacy for the liberation movements in southern Africa. The Africans were thus encountering resistance to their idea of obtaining the rights of governments for the liberation movements. The movement for legal sanctions against South Africa received a strong boost from non-African sources as the 1970s began.
