Bush to Try to Ease Sanctions on South Africa

WASHINGTON —  The Bush Administration will ask Congress to lift some economic sanctions against South Africa if that nation frees all political prisoners by April 30, senior officials have said.

Consultations with lawmakers could begin by early summer, and Congress would have 30 days to approve or reject the Administration’s request, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Congress has set a checklist of criteria” for lifting the sanctions, “and we won’t deviate from that,” one official said.

But freeing the hundreds of political prisoners would be the last item on the checklist laid out by Congress when it banned trade with South Africa in 1986, the official said.

“I don’t expect we’d lift them all at once,” he said.