UN may ask IMF to block loan for South Africa

The UN General Assembly was expected Thursday to overwhelmingly support a resolution calling on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to block a billion-dollar credit to South Africa. Jeane Kirkpatrick, the US chief delegate, said the US would vote against any such resolution. She said it is not within the jurisdiction of the UN to establish credit policy toward any country.

In Johannesburg, Robert McNamara, former World Bank president, urged Western nations to begin stockpiling key minerals exported by South Africa in preparation for a clash over its racial policies. His statement came with one of the strongest condemnations of apartheid delivered by a foreign visitor in South Africa.

Meanwhile, Barbara Hogan, the woman charged for high treason for membership in the banned African National Congress, was sentenced Thursday to an effective 10 years in jail by the Supreme Court in Johannesburg. In South Africa high treason is punishable by death.