Box 92

The administrative files for various organizations with which the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) networked to financially support its campaigns and projects, as well as coordinate activities, consists mainly of correspondence with occasional reports. The bulk of the files date from 1982-1998 and are arranged in alphabetical order by organization name with documentation in descending chronological order. Jennifer Davis, executive director of ACOA, was a member of a number of boards and committees represented in this group, and these files often contain financial budgets, minutes of meetings, reports, and occasional brochures and flyers.

ACOA nurtured a network of religious, community, student, and trade organizations, as well as local anti-apartheid groups to promote ongoing ties to support development projects and anti-apartheid campaigns. Organizations represented include: the Africa National Congress (ANC); the Association of Concerned African Scholars (ACAS); the International Committee Against Apartheid, Racism, and Colonization in South Africa; the Lawyers Committee Against Apartheid; TransAfrica (Washington, D.C.); the United Nations (UN); and many others. This network of organizations worked with ACOA to monitor United States Congressional legislation and Executive Branch policies, coordinate anti-apartheid and economic sanctions campaigns, the release of political prisoners, promote free and fair elections in southern Africa, and raise material aid for refugees. ACOA also sought funding from many of these organizations to assist in its goals to provide information, analysis, advocacy, and resources for action to its network partners and to build a constituency in the United States to support independence movements, particularly in southern Africa.

Main topics include: anti-apartheid and sanctions legislation, demonstrations and protests in the United States and southern Africa, divestment of public funds in banks and corporations dealing with South Africa, human rights in Namibia, South African elections, the oil trade in South Africa, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush's administrative polices toward South Africa.

Of note within the files is a report survey regarding anti-apartheid programs in areas visited by the 1987 Africa Peace Tour sponsored by the Africa National Congress. The testimony of the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law includes reports about human rights based upon observer missions in South Africa and Namibia (1992). The files for TransAfrica, a foreign policy lobby group for Africa and the Caribbean, contain documentation regarding the Reagan Administration's undermining of sanctions legislation, as well as monitoring United States agencies responsible for sanctions enforcement. Also present are reports regarding the oil trade with South Africa, in particular the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies.

The largest grouping of files contains documentation for the United Nations Centre Against Apartheid, the United Nations Council on Namibia, and the Washington Office on Africa. The American Committee on Africa sought financial assistance from the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid for campaigns and projects and these files contain information regarding ACOA's Unlock Apartheid Jails, sanctions, and divestment campaigns. The UN Council on Namibia worked with ACOA to organize international seminars, develop networking of national, statewide, and local government officials, church leaders, trade unionists, and others for a safe and stable transition to independence.

Of note are files containing testimony by ACOA staff, such as Richard Knight and Jennifer Davis to the United Nations and the United States Congressional committees regarding bank loans to South Africa, economic sanctions and the oil embargo against South Africa, and South Africa's illegal occupation of Namibia. Also included is testimony regarding political prisoners and divestment "people's sanctions." Of note is testimony regarding South Africa's destabilization of the front line states. The front line states were the truly independent black-ruled border states for which South Africa's government had little tolerance. South Africa worked to destabilize the region with its own and surrogate forces, such as UNITA (National Union for Total Independence of Angola) and the MNR (Mozambique National Resistance).

The Washington Office on Africa was established in 1972 and sponsored by the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), the Southern Africa Task Force of the United Presbyterian Church, the Board of Missions of the United Methodist Church and the Board of World Ministries of the United Church of Christ. ACOA had established the office in 1968; however, limited funding resources resulted in proposals of support from other organizations interested in participating in the work to liberate South Africa from white-minority rule. The urgency of the office's work became clear due to joint efforts for a campaign to end the sugar quota with South Africa. The general policy of the Washington Office was to support independent movements in southern Africa through programs and campaigns, as well as monitor Congressional legislation and White House administrative policies and actions. The Washington Office on Africa was supported by church bodies, unions, and in partnership with colleagues in Africa. Campaigns supported by the Washington Office included the prohibition of imports from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), bank withdrawal; national, state, and local economic sanctions legislation; fair and free elections in southern Africa; and material aid to assist refugees.

The Washington Office on Africa was administered by ACOA on the behalf of the sponsoring agencies and the day-to-day supervision and financial accounting was conducted by the executive director. The sponsoring group comprised a joint committee with program functions for coordination of specific campaigns, provision of research information on current issues, scheduling visitors and representatives of liberation movements for speaking engagements; providing Congressional members with information to make informed decisions, as well as maintaining contact with the executive branch of the United States government. The files contain extensive correspondence, meeting minutes, reports and action notations, as well as brochures, flyers, and newsletters for the Washington Office's campaigns.