Nation/World
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, November 15, 1989
7
Navy orders review of safety operations
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Navy, concerned about a string of serious accidents, yesterday ordered most ships, planes and other units to cut sharply operations for 48 hours during the next three days to take "a hard look at all levels and at every detail" of safety.
It is the first time the Navy has taken such an action, a Pentagon spokesman said.
The order requires ships, squadrons and shore training bases to interrupt normal operations and review basic safety and operating procedures, said Lt. Bruce Cole, Navy spokesman.
However, the order will allow "real world" operations, such as U.S. ship movements in the Persian Gulf and drug interdiction activities, to continue, said Lt. Cmdr. Craig Quigley, another Navy spokesman.
Quigley said the commanders of such operations would be able to decide when to conduct the 48-hour safety evaluation.
"Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett III and the Chief of Naval Operations Carliele A. H. Trost have ordered a Navy-wide 48-hour safety stand-down to be conducted within the next 72 hours," the Navy stated.
"This is a stand-down, not a shut down," Quigley said. "There is no degradation of the readiness posture."
Overall, the Navy has 569,000 full-time personnel and some 566 ships, and usually a third of those are at sea training operations at any one time.
Yesterday, before the announcement was made at the Pentagon, a U.S. Navy F-14 jet fighter crashed in the Gulf of Mexico 60 miles northwest of Key West, Fl., with the crew escaping serious injury; and a fire aboard an amphibious assault ship in Norfolk. Va., inured 29 people.
The fire broke out aboard the USS Inchon while it underwent shipyard maintenance in Norfolk, the Navy stated.
In recent weeks, the service has been plagued by a number of deadly accidents, including a training jet crashing into an aircraft carrier off Florida, sailors who have been washed overboard on two different aircraft carriers and the accidental bombing of a ship by a Navy pilot in the Indian Ocean.
The string of accidents has been a serious embarrassment to the Navy and the service has contended that they are unrelated.
In his statement yesterday, Adm. Trost told fleet commanders and other senior Navy leaders that they should "leave no stone unturned to ensure the safety of operations is foremost in the minds of all hands."
"The obligation we have to bring every sailor安全 safely and husband the scarce resource of combat readiness dictates a hard look at all levels and at every detail," Trost said.
Cole said the order also required all commanders to report back on their findings after the 48-hour interruption in operations.
Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that although the recent accidents didn't appear to be related, a "very wise move" on the Navy's part to review safety procedures.
Skelton said it is often forgotten that "even training under the best of circumstances, it can be a dangerous profession."
Rep. Charles Bennett, D-Fla., chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and strategic and critical materials, also made the decision was wise, but he added criticism of the service's leadership.
Bennett complained about reports that the Navy had decided to make Capt. Jasper Moosaly, skiffier of the US, eligible for another major command.
The Florida Democrat said Garrett's action yesterday indicated that "he intends to show how deeply he feels about what has occurred."
NAMIBIAN ELECTION/S: Namibia's Black nationalist movement that has fought South African rule for 23 years won a solid majority yesterday in national elections but will have to bargain with rival parties in drafting a new constitution.
The leftist South-West Africa People's Organization won 384,967 votes, or 57 percent of 670,830 ballots cast, according to results announced yesterday.
SWAPO's leaders had predicted their movement would easily win the two-thirds majority that would have enabled it to single-handedly write the constitution.
The Democratic Turnhale Alliance, a multiracial coalition that favors a capitalist economy, finished second with 191,532 votes, or 29 percent.
Thousands of SWAPO supporters filled the streets of Windhoek, the capital, waving flags, singing and hocking horns throughout the day.
South African President F.W. de Klerk said his government was "grateful that the election proceeded peacefully, and thus accepts the outcome."
The celebration carried on into the night in Katutura, the main black neighborhood on the edge of Windhoek.
World Briefs
SOVIET LAND PROPOSAL: The Soviet legislature yesterday approved for nationwide discussion a proposal to loosen the state's hold on economic reform. They say is the centerpiece of economic reform.
Tass said the bill would give stock companies, collectives and coo-raptives equal rights with the government, which owns 80 to 90 percent of the property in the country.
"Renovation of property relations leads to setting the key problem of socialist economy: formation of long-term interest of enterprises and consumption, as well as consumption and accumulation," the report said.
The program is likely to be presented to the Congress of People's Deputies parliament when it reconvenes Dec. 12.
MIDEAST PEACE TALKS: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir met with U.S. Jewish leaders yesterday and prepared for critical talks with President Bush on the future of Mideast negotiations.
The State Department, meanwhile, said it had not received an official reply from Egypt on a U.S. proposal for talks between Israel and Palestinian Arabs. Department spokesman Margaret Tutwiler also denounced as an obstacle to peace a projected new Jewish settlement in Gaza.
Egypt is acting as a surrogate for the Palestine Liberation Organization and has asked for "clarifications." The Israeli Cabinet, meanwhile, is seeking assurances that the PLO would play no role in the talks.
East Germany may get aid from West
The Associated Press
BERLIN — West Germany said yesterday that it was willing to give East Germany massive financial aid in the style of the postwar U.S. Marshall Plan but demanded political and economic reforms the Communists have rejected so far.
East Germany's new premier, Hans Mcdowd, said the Berlin Wall must remain in order to keep AIDS, crime and other Western problems under control. A coalition government but did not say whether the opposition could join it.
After a week of dramatic developments in Eastern European countries, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet Union said in Moscow, 'They have a common direction, which fosters the building of a European home, for it makes the countries closer, more open and creates new opportunities for human contact and an equal exchange.'
Mayor Walter Momper of West
The Liberal Democrats, an East German party that is allied with the Communists but shows signs of independence, said pro-democracy should be invited to 'round table' talks about East Germany's future.
Berlin said the sudden opening of East Germany's borders was creating traffic jams, currency problems and a backlash against the two governments must resolve.
Reforms promised so far by Communist Party leader Egon Krenz, who replaced hard-liner Erich Huecker last month, have resulted in more questions than answers, Haussmann said in Bonn.
He compared his proposal to the Marshall Plan devised by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, which provided more than $2 billion in U.S. aid between 1948 and 1951 to help Europe recover from the war.
East German authorities have rejected the idea of adopting a complete free-market system and Modrow, a leading reformer, said he wanted "step by step" economic changes.
Modnow appears to want a streamlining of the bureaucracy, but has given no indication that he will urge sweeping changes such as those in Hungary and Poland.
He was quoted yesterday in the West German newspaper Bild as asking the Berlin Wall can remain open to travel, but will not come down.
Other nations urged to support East bloc democratic reforms
The Associated Press
HAKONE, Japan — The vice president of the European Community today urged Western industrialized nations to increase their aid to East bloc countries to hasten moves toward democracy.
"It's clear that what's happening in Eastern Europe will have enormous impact on Europe, on East-West relations and on the rest of the world," said Frans Andriessen as trade talks ended in Japan.
Andriessen said reporters that Western nations should "try to support, as much as we possibly can, economic and political development in those countries." He cited Poland, Hungary and East Germany.
French President Francois Mitterrand has invited his 11 European Community partners to dinner in Paris on Saturday to discuss the rush of events in Eastern Europe and how the West should respond
Andriessen, who is responsible for
coordinating Western economic aid to the region, said Monday he hoped to visit East Germany before the end of the year to "get support for the tendency to democracy" in that country.
He played down speculation on granting European Community membership to East Germany, which has just opened its borders to the West, but he said the trading bloc would probably adopt a favorable "low-key, commercial agreement" with the country.
In a brief meeting today with Japan's minister of international trade, Hikaru Matsunaga, he said urgent action was needed to help relieve the economic crisis in Poland, EC spokesman Nico Weger said.
He said the European Community — the umbrella organization of the European Economic Community — hoped to gain support of other Western nations for a $210 million "food supply action" in early 1990 to supplement a current food aid project.
When she graduated, the only female in the school of architecture was the secretary
Times have changed since Mom was in school. School has changed because the world has changed. And the competition is tougher. When I decided I wanted a Macintosh computer, I knew I had my work cut out for me.
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