Diplomacy: Fence Mending

Botha goes calling in Europe

The headline in one Johannesburg paper almost shouted the news: P.W. LEADS SOUTH AFRICA OUT OF ISOLATION.

Another daily described the forthcoming event as a "venture to the exterior." The excitement was caused by Prime Minister P.W. Botha's 16-day trip to Western Eu rope, the most ambitious journey under taken by a South African leader in almost 40 years. The purpose of the trip, which is taking Botha to Portugal, Switzerland, Britain, West Germany, Belgium, France, Austria and perhaps Italy: to move South Africa a bit further from...

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