Sweden Orders Ban on S. Africa Trade to Protest Apartheid
STOCKHOLM — Sweden today announced a total trade ban on South Africa and faulted the United Nations for refusing to impose mandatory international sanctions to force South Africa’s government to end apartheid.
“The time for a peaceful solution of apartheid is about to run out. The violence is expanding,” Foreign Minister Sten Andersson told a news conference after the Cabinet endorsed the trade ban.
Foreign Trade Minister Anita Gradin said the ban takes effect July 1 and imposes a deadline of Oct. 1 for Swedish companies to end all trading of goods with South Africa.
The ban stops short of requiring disinvestment. Gradin said forcing Swedish companies to pull out of South Africa would involve a complicated and costly process of compensation.
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