The UN requests States to terminate restrictions on economic relations with South Africa with immediate effect

Date: 8 Oct 1993
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

The United Nations(UN) requested States to terminate restrictions on economic relations with South Africa immediately, and to terminate the oil embargo against the country when the Transitional Executive Council in South Africa became operational. A resolution calling for economic and diplomatic sanctions against SA was passed in 1962 and in 1963 the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an arms embargo. In 1965 the General Assembly passed a motion calling for mandatory sanctions against SA and in 1974 South Africa was suspended from the UN General Assembly. This move to terminate sanctions against South Africa ended years of conflict between the UN and the country’s government, during which South Africa's credentials were sometimes not accepted and efforts were made to expel South Africa from the Organisation. The conflict centred on SA's contested mandate in South West Africa (now Namibia) and the UN's opposition against Apartheid.

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01United Nations, ‘Nelson Mandela International Day’, [online], available at www.un.org [Accessed: 20 September 2013]
02O’Malley, P. ‘1963’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, [online], available at www.nelsonmandela.org.za [Accessed: 19 September 2013]
03Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, October 2). The UN requests States to terminate restrictions on economic relations with South Africa with immediate effect. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096479

South African History Online (2013) 'The UN requests States to terminate restrictions on economic relations with South Africa with immediate effect', South African History Online, 2 October. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096479 (Accessed: 25 September 2026).

South African History Online, The UN requests States to terminate restrictions on economic relations with South Africa with immediate effect [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096479, (accessed 25 September 2026).

"The UN requests States to terminate restrictions on economic relations with South Africa with immediate effect." South African History Online, 2 Oct. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096479. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "The UN requests States to terminate restrictions on economic relations with South Africa with immediate effect." South African History Online. October 2, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096479.