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Action holds up shipment to South Africa

Intervention by a New Democratic Party
MP and Local 9705 of the Steelworkers has
held up a shipment of strategic minerals that
was to be sent to the University of Pretoria
in South Africa from Cominco in Trail.

“The last word we had was that the
shipment was stopped,” Local 9705 presi-
dent Jim Saare said in an interview from
Trail Monday. ‘And as far as we’re con-
cerned that’s the way it should stay.”

The two minerals, germanium crystals
and indium antimonide, are used for semi-
conductors, electronic components and
even tracer bullets for small arms produc-
tion. The indium antimonide also has spe-
cial application for infrared detectors used
in weapons systems and satellites.

News of the shipment came to light two
months ago when NDP MP Howard
McCurdy (Windsor-Walkerville) produced
the Cominco order during question period
in the House of Commons. He tackled
External Affairs Minister Joe Clark on the
issue, demanding to know if an export per-

mit had been granted by external affairs for

the minerals.
Ina subsequent letter to McCurdy, Clark

acknowledged that one shipment had
already been sent but claimed that no
export permit had been granted for the
second.

In early April, however, the permit for
the second shipment was granted —
although it was again stopped last week
following further questioning in the House
from McCurdy.

Significantly, the second shipment was to
have contained the indium antimonide
which Saare said could be used for military

purposes once it was sent to South Africa.

The Steelworkers leader credited action
by McCurdy and the Vancouver-based
Anti-Apartheid Network in drawing public
attention to the shipments and highlighting
Canada’s role in supplying apartheid. -

The whole affair shows that there “are
some pretty big holes in Canada’s sanctions
policies,” McCurdy’s legislative assistant
Don Lenihan said in an interview from
Ottawa.

Lenihan said that he contacted Comin-
co’s office in Spokane — which arranged
the shipment to the University of Pretoria
— and was told by the secretary that an
export permit had been applied for but had
been temporarily rejected because the uni-
versity had not specified its purpose in
importing the minerals.

Presumably, it was on the basis of that
information being supplied that the permit
was later granted.

“But when I phoned back (to Cominco)
for more information, she suddenly forgot
everything she had told me before and
insisted that I would have to speak to the
vice-president,” Lenihan related.

Similarly, Cominco public relations offi-
cials told a radio station in Trail when the
story broke that there were no shipments.
“But when they realized that the informa-
tion was out, they had to come clean,”
Saare said, adding that the company “flip-
flopped” the same afternoon.

Lenihan said that Canada’s sanctions,
vague as they are, do restrict certain mate-
rials, such as military equipment, from
being exported to South Africa. But when
the material has several uses, including mil-

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12 « Pacific Tribune, May 4, 1988

itary, ‘“‘all the South Africans have to do is
lie about it.

“And they would have no scruples in
doing that,” he said.

Significantly, the University of Pretoria is
a “bastion of apartheid,” Lenihan said,
maintaining an exclusive whites-only pol-
icy. It is also close to a military base.

Lenihan pointed out that the $30,000
price tag on the minerals shipments is about
one-third less than the normal cost for such
shipments. He noted that Cominco has
been known to offer favourable prices to
first-time buyers to encourage them to place
future orders.

That has raised fears that the mining mul-
tinational may make future sales to South
Africa — or even that the current shipment
may be once again cleared by external
affairs after the furore has died down.

Saare acknowledged that the mineral

could “‘be sent out quietly,” adding that itis
such a small amount “somebody could put
it under their coat and drive it down to
Spokane.

“But it should not be shipped,” h
emphasized. :

Anti-Apartheid Network co-ordinator
Larry Kuehn also called on the federal
government “to take its own words
seriously and stop Cominco from shipping
these vital minerals.

“At a time when South Africa has out
lawed all the legal opposition groups, the
least we can do in Canada is to stop contri-
buting to the development of the repressive
capacity of the apartheid government,” he
said. “These minerals can clearly have mil-
itary and intelligence uses and should not be
exported to South African under any Cit-
cumstances,”

The Communist Party's proposals to defeat
the neo-conservative agenda.

- George Hewison

CC nominee, leader CPC
Wednesday, May 11/7:30 p.m.
Holiday Inn Harbourside
1133 West Hastings Street
Vancouver