The World - News from Feb. 15, 1987

Botswana’s vital rail links with South Africa, closed for a day by one of South Africa’s nominally independent black homelands, have been reopened. Easing of the confrontation followed hasty talks in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, between the government of that small black nation and South African railway officials. The links were cut by authorities in Bophuthatswana, a ministate created by South Africa, which lies astride the railway and which has been pressing Botswana for diplomatic recognition. The line is one of two routes that give Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Zaire and Malawi access to South African ports.