UN envoy was in the dark on S. African, US says

March 26, 1981

Embarrassed US officials are explaining a meeting between UN envoy Jeane Kirkpatrick and South Africa's military intelligence chief by saying she did not know the official's true identity until the next day.

Lt. Gen. P. W. van der

Westerhuizen and three colleagues visited the United States for nearly a week in defiance of a longstanding ban by concealing their military identities in applications to the US Embassy in Pretoria. When their presence was discovered, the State Department asked them to leave.

White House spokesman James Brady said Mrs. Kirkpatrick had not been aware that the South African she ment was in the military.