The World - News from Feb. 2, 1986

Angola rejected an offer from South African President Pieter W. Botha to free jailed black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela in exchange for Angola’s release of a South African army officer held in Angola and the Soviet release of dissidents Andrei D. Sakharov and Anatoly Shcharansky. The Angolan Foreign Ministry proposed instead that the officer be freed in exchange for the return of several Angolans and a Cuban being held in South Africa. There has been no response from the Soviet Union to Botha’s proposal, made in speech to the opening session of Parliament.