From: vamg6792@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mbanane)
Subject: UPI: DeKlerk asks ANC to stop violence and return to negotiation
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 01:37:04 GMT


	JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (UPI) -- South African President Frederik
de Klerk called Wednesday for an urgent meeting with the African
National Congress and said he accepted that talks on establishing full
democracy could only resume once the level of violence in the country
had been reduced.
	The call for the meeting came two days after black homeland soldiers
fired into a crowd of 20,000 ANC supporters, killing 28 people and
wounding another 196 as they marched to demand the resignation of the
Ciskei homeland's military leader.
	``It is simply not possible to negotiate constitutional issues before
the question of violence has been dealt with satisfactorily,'' de Klerk
told a news conference following a Cabinet meeting to discuss the latest
crisis.
	He said all political parties should focus on bringing violence to an
end, and appealed for an urgent meeting between government and ANC
representatives.
	``I am prepared to lead the government delegation myself and urge
(ANC president Nelson Mandela) to do the same in respect of the ANC
delegation,'' de Klerk said.
	``The government remains committed to a new, negotiated and fully
democratic constitution. Related to that...elections have to be held as
soon as possible,'' he said. ``However, we have now reached a point at
which violence is making the realization of these ideals increasingly
difficult to attain.''
	The ANC said in a statement it would consider de Klerk's offer
Thursday, but ``at face value it seems that the government is offering
more of the same.''
	To date the ANC has rejected all of de Klerk's calls to return to the
negotiating table. The organization abandoned the talks June 23, citing
government involvement in politically motivated violence.
	The government has rejected the charges and said it appeared the ANC
did not have the political will to return to multi-party talks on
democratic reform. The ANC says it wants to return, but first the
government must satisfactorily meet 14 demands aimed at ending violence
and hastening the democratic process.
	The shooting of the ANC supporters by Ciskei soldiers as they entered
the homeland to demand the resignation of Brig. Oupa Gqozo adds to the
more than 6,000 deaths recorded since de Klerk started his process of
political reform in February 1990.
	De Klerk said a meeting also should be held to achieve clarity on the
reasons behind Monday's massacre, who should be blamed for it and how
similar clashes could be avoided in the future.
	The South African government created Ciskei and nine other homelands
for blacks as part of its policy of racial segregation. The government
has granted Ciskei independence, but the international community does
not recognize it as a separate state. Gqozo siezed power in a military
coup two years ago and is supported by Pretoria.
	The South African government, while distancing itself from the
actions of the Ciskei soldiers, claims the ANC-led campaign of mass
protests and industrial strikes, launched June 16 with the aim of
eventually forcing the government to relinquish power, had provoked the
confrontation.
	The ANC argues the shooting was unprovoked despite the fact that
march organizers had planned to ignore a Ciskei court ruling which
allowed the march but prevented marchers from entering Ciskei's capital
and restricted their stay in the homeland to four-and-a-half hours.
	The ANC maintains Gqozo is a puppet of South Africa's white-minority
government and that responsibility for the shooting should be shared by
both parties.
	Mandela has demanded that Gqozo be removed as head of state, that
South Africa withdraw its military advisers from the homeland and that
legislation which effectively bans the ANC in Ciskei be scrapped.
	De Klerk argues the mass action campaign will continue to provoke
violent confrontation in South Africa, while the ANC accuses the
government of supporting violence which prevents the establishment of a
political climate in which negotiations can take place.
	``The view of the ANC that needs no discussion is that mass action is
not conflict creating. It is the denial of free political activity by
all kinds of government (and the support) of petty tyrants that creates
conflict,'' the ANC said in a statement.
	Meanwhile, Gqozo denounced the confrontational attitude of the ANC
Wednesday and warned that if it continued it could lead to a repeat of
Monday's massacre.
	Gqozo, who supports the South African government, maintains his
soldiers fired in self-defense after ANC supporters attacked them with
guns and hand grenades as the marchers crossed from South Africa into
the Ciskei. The ANC has rejected the charge.
	``If democratic processes are going to be conducted this way, then
our country can forget about ever having reconciliation, peace and
stability,'' Gqozo said during a news conference in the Ciskei capital
of Bisho, 497 miles southeast of Johannesburg.
	The ANC has labeled Gqozo a butcher and said it would continue to
oppose him in a bid to secure free political activity in the homeland.

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