ABSTRACT
The milieu of conflicting policies and actions towards South and Southern Africa demonstrates the need for a policy framework that would enable the United States to play a positive role in alleviating the conflicts and dangers of the present situation. South Africa is the regional power of Southern Africa and holds the key to the political and economic future of the region. South Africa’s military supremacy in the region is overwhelming and its economy dominates those of its regional neighbors. balance. South Africa has demonstrated a willingness to invest in the economies of other countries and has invested significantly in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. At the same time, Pretoria has demonstrated a willingness to use military force to maintain its new ring of buffer states. Western policies designed to speed an end to apartheid must recognize the basic fear which sustains apartheid and address the issue in ways that lessen violence, not heighten it.
