Sakou Saysay has had enough and wants to leave. The only obstacle now is finding a wagon big enough to take his 3 wives and 18 children. "I'm sick of living like this," said Mr. Saysay, a farmer who has lived in this remote village in northeastern Liberia for nearly 20 years. "A man can't sleep in peace here anymore."
Most of his goats, chickens and sheep have been stolen by marauding gangs of Liberian soldiers, he said. Some of his neighbors have also been held at gunpoint and forced to give money. A few have been killed. "I'm going to Guinea while I still have time, before they get me too," Mr. Saysay said. He will be joining a growing exodus of Liberians who are fleeing the worst outbreak of violence in this West African country in recent years. Diplomats and journalists say that as many as 70,000 people - about a third of Nimba County - have fled Liberia, mostly crossing into Guinea or the Ivory Coast.
The violence erupted in late December, when guerrillas opposed to Liberia's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, invaded this lushly forested area nestled in the Nimba Mountains. The Liberian Government then sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. After a bloody campaign, the Liberian Army is generally believed to have succeeded in securing the eastern half of Nimba County. But scattered fighting is reported to continue between the Liberian forces and the insurgents led by Charles Taylor, a former Cabinet minister who fell into disfavor and fled the country after being charged with corruption. Though the rebels are said to attack civilian as well as military targets, the stories told in towns and villages in this area are almost uniformly ones of bitterness toward the Liberian Army. "The situation is not about the rebels," Mr. Saysay said. "It's about the soldiers."
A Western diplomat said: "Soldiers were supposed to be up there to rid the area of rebels. But ironically, because they were such brutes, they have created a lot of sympathy for the rebels." Most residents of Nimba County are members of the Gio and Mano tribes, which are also the tribes of many of Mr. Taylor's followers. By contrast, most of the senior military officers directing Government forces here are said to be members of the Krahn tribe, as is President Doe. The Krahns, who are about five percent of the population, now dominate much of Liberia's political life.
At the once-bustling trading town of Sanoquelli, dozens of abandoned storefronts and the mostly deserted streets testify to the bloody events of January. Diplomats and international relief workers estimate that at least 500 civilians have been killed. Residents here say the dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed by the military has introduced a new element of fear. "If soldiers arrest you for curfew, they ask you for money, and if you don't give it to them, they kill you," said Mamade Kende, a farmer in Gbapa. He said he had to pay a soldier $15 not to rape his daughter. The starting monthly salary for a Liberian soldier is about $50.
Liberian forces have allowed journalists to tour secure areas of Nimba County but have blocked access to an area between Zulowi and Kahnple. Refugees who have fled across the border into the Ivory Coast and Guinea said that it was mostly in that region that soldiers went on a rampage. Asked about reports that Liberian soldiers were abusing unarmed civilians, military officials here insisted that their operations had been confined to pursuing the rebels and that any attacks on civilians were committed by the rebels. Brig. Gen. Moses K. Draig, the commander of Government forces here, said: "Harassment on the part of our troops is out of the question. They've got too much to do."
Source: New York Times
Saturday, February 24, 1990
Sunday, February 11, 1990
SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW ERA; MANDELA, FREED, URGES STEP-UP IN PRESSURE TO END WHITE RULE
After 27 and a half years in prison, Nelson Mandela finally won his freedom today and promptly urged his supporters at home and abroad to increase their pressure against the white minority Goverment that had just released him. ''We have waited too long for our freedom,'' Mr. Mandela told a cheering crowd from a balcony of Cape Town's old City Hall. ''We can wait no longer.'' ''Now is the time to intensify the struggle on all fronts,'' he said. ''To relax our efforts now would be a mistake which generations to come will not able to forgive.'' Mr. Mandela's 20-minute speech, which he prepared before leaving prison today, constituted his first remarks in public since before he was sentenced in June 1964 to life imprisonment for conspiracy to overthrow the Government and engage in sabotage. He asked the international community not to lift its sanctions against South Africa, despite the recent changes introduced by President F. W. de Klerk, which culminated in Mr. Mandela's release. ''To lift sanctions now would be to run the risk of aborting the process toward ending apartheid,'' he said.
Mr. Mandela's voice sounded firm and his words as eloquently militant as when he defended violence as the ultimate recourse at his political trial in 1964. Though he looked all of his 71 years and was grayer than artists' renditions over the years had depicted, he walked out of Victor Verster prison erect and vigorous. In Washington, President Bush rejoiced over the release of Mr. Mandela, spoke to him by telephone and invited the anti-apartheid leader to visit the White House. Mr. Mandela gave no evidence that his militant opposition to apartheid had been tempered by the more than 10,000 days he spent in confinement. But he also said nothing that would have surprised the Government had he said it during his years of incarceration. Indeed, there appeared to be nothing in Mr. Mandela's initial remarks after his release to give the Government much consolation or encouragement. Although he has been viewed as a potential leader for all South Africans, he stressed time and again that his loyalty lay with the African National Congress, for which he was working underground when he was jailed in August 1962 on charges of incitement and leaving the country illegally. He was serving time on that conviction when he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964.
Mr. Mandela told a crowd that he remained a ''loyal and disciplined member'' of the African National Congress and still endorsed its policies, including its use of armed struggle against the white minority Government. He said he saluted the congress's military wing, Spear of the Nation, and its ally, the South African Communist Party, ''for its steady contribution to the struggle for democracy.'' But he also thanked the Black Sash, an organization of white women working to end apartheid, and the predominantly white National Union of South African Students for being ''the conscience of white South Africans.'' And he held out an olive branch to all whites, asking them to join in shaping a new South Africa. ''The freedom movement is a political home for you, too,'' he said.
In his first speech after his release, Mr. Mandela may have taken an orthodox line with a mass audience sympathetic to the African National Congress and might in private discussions eshow greater flexibility on the question of discussions that the Government wants to have with blacks, who are 28 million of the population, compared with the 5 million whites of the ruling minority. He said he was only making some preliminary comments following his release, and would have more to say ''after I have had the opportunity to consult with my comrades.'' By this he meant the leaders of the African National Congress now in exile in Zambia as well as colleagues still based in South Africa. But he appeared to discourage any leading role for himself, such as the Government has in mind, saying, ''A leader of the movement is a person who has been democratically elected at a national conference.''
President de Klerk has invited black leaders to join talks leading to the formulation of a new constitution that would let black South Africans take part at last in their nation's politics.Mr. Mandela acknowledged to the crowd that he had conducted a dialogue with the Government during his last years in prison. But he added: ''My talks with the Government have been aimed at normalizing the political situation in the country. We have not yet begun discussing the basic demands of our struggle. I wish to stress that I myself have at no time entered into negotiations about the future of our country, except to insist on a meeting between the A.N.C. and the Government,'' he said. He described Mr. de Klerk, whom he has met twice since December, as ''a man of integrity. Mr. de Klerk has gone further than any other Nationalist President in taking real steps to normalize the situation,'' Mr. Mandela said. ''But as an organization we base our policy and strategy and tactics on the harsh reality we are faced with,'' he said. ''And this reality is that we are still suffering under the policies of the Nationalist Government.''
The National Party, which Mr. de Klerk now leads, instituted apartheid after taking power in 1948. Mr. Mandela said the Government had to take further steps before negotiations could begin. As a prerequisite for negotiations, he reiterated two demands that he had conveyed from prison through recent visitors. These are are the lifting of the state of emergency, which was imposed in June 1986, and the release of all political prisoners, including those accused of crimes committed in the struggle against apartheid. ''Only such a normalized situation which allows for free political activity can allow us to consult our people in order to obtain a mandate,'' Mr. Mandela said. He said the people had to be consulted about who would represent them in talks with the Government. ''Negotiations cannot take place above the heads or behind the backs of our people,'' he said. ''It is our belief that the future of our country can only be determined by a body which is democratically elected on a nonracial basis.''
Mr. Mandela appeared to allude to a formula under which a constituent assembly, in effect supplanting the existing Parliament, would draft a new constitution. Such a plan would mean the creation of an interim government in South Africa and has previously been rejected by Mr. de Klerk for the foreseeable future. Mr. Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Prison near Paarl at 4:15 P.M., 75 minutes later than the release time announced Saturday afternoon by Mr. de Klerk. Acquaintances of the Mandela family said his departure from the prison was delayed by family discussions. He was greeted by about 5,000 supporters lining the asphalt road outside the prison farm where he has been held since December 1988. Some waved the black, green and yellow flags of the African National Congress, from which Mr. de Klerk removed a ban on Feb. 2. Mr. Mandela was then driven 40 miles from Paarl to Cape Town, passing several hundred people who had parked by the roadside or waited on overpasses in hope of seeing him. They held homemade signs, some of which read simply, ''Welcome home.'' A huge crowd, which organizers said reached 250,000 people, assembled in the square in front of the old City Hall in Cape Town to greet Mr. Mandela. Reporters covering the rally put the crowd's size at only 50,000 people at its peak. They became impatient and sometimes unruly, waiting up to six hours in the hot sun and had dwindled to about 20,000 by sunset, when Mr. Mandela finally appeared.
In the 1950's it was Government policy to prevent blacks from settling in the Western Cape, so they are not in the clear majority in Cape Town, where Mr. Mandela was released. People of mixed race, known as ''coloreds,'' are the largest population group in Cape Town, where whites also outnumber blacks. Blacks, who account for nearly 75 percent of the population in the country as a whole, are in the overwhelming majority in the Johannesburg region, where Mr. Mandela can expect his most tumultuous welcome.
The festive occasion was marred by violence after some youths who had been drinking on the fringes of the rally started breaking windows and looting shops in downtown Cape Town. The police tried to disperse them by firing shotguns and tear gas, and some of the youths retaliated by throwing bottles and stones. At one point, drunken protesters invaded a Chinese restaurant, snatched up the liquor and wine and threw bottles at the police from the rooftop. One man in the crowd was also injured in a knife fight.
The South African Press Association reported tonight that 2 people had been killed and 13 wounded in the confrontations. A physician treating casualties on the scene estimated that 100 people had been wounded, mostly by buckshot. Most suffered only light injuries, including three journalists covering the rally. Cheryl Carolus, a spokeswoman for the United Democratic Front, which helped organize the rally, attributed the violence to outsiders who, she said, were ''beyond our usual crowds, or who supported the rival Pan-Africanist Movement.''' At times, some supporters at the rally had to scramble for cover as the police chased or fired at looters and stone-throwers. The Rev. Allan Boesak, a prominent figure in the anti-apartheid movement, pleaded for more than 45 minutes with the crowd to maintain discipline and move back.
Dullah Omar, a lawyer representing the Mandela family, said Mr. Mandela had been unaware of the violence. This evening, Mr. Mandela failed to appear at a news conference arranged by the reception committee that is handling his schedule. A representative said Mr. Mandela would meet the press later this week in Johannesburg. Mr. Mandela and his wife, Winnie, are expected to fly to Johannesburg on Monday and proceed to their home in the black township of Soweto. One of the organizers, Saki Mocozoma, said security considerations precluded him from revealing where the Mandelas were spending their first night.
Mr. Mandela also paid tribute to his wife, who has lived apart from him for more than 27 years, and their children. ''I am convinced that your pain and suffering was far greater than my own,'' he told them.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, February 3, 1990
SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW ERA; SOUTH AFRICA'S PRESIDENT ENDS 30-YEAR BAN ON MANDELA GROUP; SAYS IT IS TIME FOR NEGOTIATION
President F. W. de Klerk today lifted a 30-year ban on the African National Congress, the movement that has been fighting to bring down white minority rule in South Africa, and promised that Nelson Mandela, who has been imprisoned for nearly 28 years, would be freed soon. The moves were disclosed in a package of sweeping changes that Mr. de Klerk announced in a speech at the opening of Parliament today. Mr. de Klerk's program, which went beyond what virtually all his critics expected, appeared intended to clear the way for negotiating the country's future with his strongest black opponents, and also to put the onus for the next move on the opposition.
The African National Congress followed a policy of nonviolent resistance to white rule for decades before it was declared illegal in 1960. Thereafter, it organized a military force in exile and waged a campaign of bombings with underground operatives inside South Africa. Although the group was banned, its influence continued to grow in recent years, to the point that not only black leaders from inside South Africa but white business executives and politicians began flying regularly to Lusaka, Zambia, to meet with its exiled leaders. By legitimizing the movement's role in South African political life, President de Klerk appeared to be seeking an end to the era of violent confrontation. But he left uncertain the distance he was prepared to travel toward the movement's goals of ending white dominance and dismantling the legal structure of apartheid.''Hostile postures have to be replaced by cooperative ones, confrontation by contact, disengagement by engagement, slogans by deliberate debate,'' Mr. de Klerk told Parliament in calling for the Government's opponents to join the negotiations he has proposed. ''The season of violence is over,'' the President said. ''The time for reconstruction and reconciliation has arrived.''
Thousands of people took to the streets of major cities to cheer the announcement and call for more change. The demonstration here concluded peacefully, but in Johannesburg, police officers acting under regulations that remain in force broke up a march into the city center with tear gas and night sticks. Prominent critics of apartheid praised Mr. de Klerk's move, although they stressed the need for more concessions by the Government. But Mr. de Klerk's announcement was criticized by the country's most prominent right-wing white leader, who called for new elections.
Mr. de Klerk promised that Mr. Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress who is a hero to much of the country's black majority, would be freed soon but declined to say when. His release has been seen by Pretoria's opponents at home and abroad as a major test of Mr. de Klerk's intentions to move away from apartheid, the system of racial segregation and white domination. ''I wish to put it plainly that the Government has taken a firm decision to release Mr. Mandela unconditionally,'' Mr. de Klerk said. ''I am serious about bringing this matter to finality without delay. The Government will take a decision soon on the date of his release. Unfortunately, a further short passage of time is unavoidable.'' Mr. de Klerk attributed the postponement of Mr. Mandela's freedom to ''factors in the way of his immediate release, of which his personal circumstances and safety are not the least.'' The President, as well as other Government ministers, refused to explain further. But Stoffel van der Merwe, Minister of Development Aid and Education, which encompasses the education of blacks, briefed reporters on Mr. de Klerk's speech today and told them that ''I don't think we will see Christmas with Mr. Mandela in jail.'' Others informed about the Government's thinking expect Mr. Mandela's release to come within weeks, if not days.
The 71-year-old anti-apartheid leader, who is living on a prison farm outside Cape Town, has been quoted by recent visitors as demanding that the Government improve the political climate before he leaves prison. The conditions mentioned included the legalization of the African National Congress, the release of political detainees, the lifting of the national state of emergency decree and an end to political trials and executions.
Mr. de Klerk appeared to cover most of those demands as he repeated his willingness to discuss a new constitution that would give political rights to the black majority without forcing the white minority to relinquish power. ''With the steps the Government has taken, it has proven its good faith and the table is laid for sensible leaders to begin talking about a new dispensation, to reach an understanding by way of dialogue and discussion,'' Mr. de Klerk said. The other changes announced by Mr. de Klerk included these:
* Emergency regulations curtailing the freedom of press will be repealed, except for unspecified conditions limiting photographic and television coverage of racial unrest.
* Restrictions on 33 organizations whose activities were curtailed under the national state of emergency decree will be lifted.
* Restrictions on the movements and contacts of 374 people released from detention are to be lifted and the regulations hampering their freedom are to be abolished.
* Political detentions will be limited to six months, and detainees will have the right to legal representation and a doctor of their choice.
Opponents of apartheid have estimated that 30,000 people have been detained since the national state of emergency decree was imposed in June 1986, and many of those were held indefinitely without access to a lawyer or doctor. In addition to the African National Congress, the most prominent groups whose activities will no longer be restricted are the South African Communist Party, a longtime ally of Mr. Mandela's group, and a rival, the Pan-Africanist Congress, which places greater stress on the role of black leadership in the anti-apartheid struggle.
The list also includes the United Democratic Front, a coalition of anti-apartheid parties, the South African National Students Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a labor federation active in the struggle against apartheid, the National Education Crisis Committee, and the White Freedom Movement, a right-wing paramilitary group promoting white racial supremacy, which was banned in December 1989.
Mr. de Klerk acknowledged that the national state of emergency regulations remained in force, but said they would now inhibit only those who used chaos and disorder as political weapons. ''It is my intention to terminate the state of emergency as soon as circumstances justify it and I request the cooperation of everybody toward this end,'' the President said. The changes announced today, while probably the most dramatic announced by any South African President in a single speech, leave in place the basic structures of apartheid, including the Population Registration Act, which classifies every South African by race, and the Group Areas Act, which enforces the segregation of neighborhoods. Blacks also remain largely excluded from the political process.
The country is governed by a three-chamber Parliament, representing whites, Asians and people of mixed race, and a President elected by the legislators. Blacks, who represent about 75 percent of the total population of 38.5 million, have no representation. But Mr. de Klerk said the Separate Amenities Act, which has allowed municipal officials to bar blacks from publicly owned centers, installations and facilities, would be repealed by Parliament in its current session, as he had promised late last year. Mr. de Klerk further announced that the Government would confine the use of the death penalty to what he called ''extreme cases,'' in part by allowing judges greater discretion in imposing it. ''The net of extenuating circumstances will be substantally increased,'' Foreign Minister Roelof F. Botha, a confidant of Mr. de Klerk, told reporters. Under current South African law, a judge is required to sentence a defendent to hang if the defendant is convicted of a capital crime.
Critics of apartheid have viewed the death penalty as an instrument of repression, because blacks account for most condemned prisoners and because capital punishment has been applied in politically motivated crimes. Mr. de Klerk said those sentenced to death would automatically be granted the right to appeal their sentences, which is now at the judge's discretion. Those changes, he said, would be extended to those currently on death row. ''Therefore, all executions have been suspended and no executions will take place until Parliament has taken a final decision on the new proposals.'' he said. ''In the event of the proposals being adopted, the case of every person involved will be dealt with in accordance with the new guidelines.''
Taken altogether, the changes announced by Mr. de Klerk amount to a significant reconsideration of the Government's policy toward dissent, because they appear to address most of the complaints by the anti-apartheid movement about Government repression. Prominent members of the anti-apartheid movement reacted with optimism tempered by caution. They attributed the changes to the domestic and international pressure applied against Pretoria, not to Mr. de Klerk's boldness.
At a news conference called here by the United Democratic Front, its publicity secretary, Patrick Lekota, said Mr. de Klerk's speech showed that international sanctions against South Africa worked and that the measures should be maintained and intensified. ''To lift sanctions now will be to run the risk of aborting the process toward democracy,'' Mr. Lekota said. But Dr. Andries P. Treurnicht, leader of the right-wing Conservative Party in Parliament, called Mr. de Klerk's speech shocking. He demanded that Mr. de Klerk, whose National Party was returned to power last September, hold a new election to see how much support whites would give him now.
The regulations enacting most of the changes, which take effect immediately, are to be published in the Government Gazette beginning tomorrow. Mr. van der Merwe said the Government had not set any conditions on the legalization of the African National Congress, which has been outlawed since 1960, or on its resumption of political activity. He also said members of the organization living in exile could return home without fear of punishment, as long as they had not been charged with criminal offenses. And he said members held in South African jails for illegal political activity, though not crimes, would be released.
Source: New York Times
The African National Congress followed a policy of nonviolent resistance to white rule for decades before it was declared illegal in 1960. Thereafter, it organized a military force in exile and waged a campaign of bombings with underground operatives inside South Africa. Although the group was banned, its influence continued to grow in recent years, to the point that not only black leaders from inside South Africa but white business executives and politicians began flying regularly to Lusaka, Zambia, to meet with its exiled leaders. By legitimizing the movement's role in South African political life, President de Klerk appeared to be seeking an end to the era of violent confrontation. But he left uncertain the distance he was prepared to travel toward the movement's goals of ending white dominance and dismantling the legal structure of apartheid.''Hostile postures have to be replaced by cooperative ones, confrontation by contact, disengagement by engagement, slogans by deliberate debate,'' Mr. de Klerk told Parliament in calling for the Government's opponents to join the negotiations he has proposed. ''The season of violence is over,'' the President said. ''The time for reconstruction and reconciliation has arrived.''
Thousands of people took to the streets of major cities to cheer the announcement and call for more change. The demonstration here concluded peacefully, but in Johannesburg, police officers acting under regulations that remain in force broke up a march into the city center with tear gas and night sticks. Prominent critics of apartheid praised Mr. de Klerk's move, although they stressed the need for more concessions by the Government. But Mr. de Klerk's announcement was criticized by the country's most prominent right-wing white leader, who called for new elections.
Mr. de Klerk promised that Mr. Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress who is a hero to much of the country's black majority, would be freed soon but declined to say when. His release has been seen by Pretoria's opponents at home and abroad as a major test of Mr. de Klerk's intentions to move away from apartheid, the system of racial segregation and white domination. ''I wish to put it plainly that the Government has taken a firm decision to release Mr. Mandela unconditionally,'' Mr. de Klerk said. ''I am serious about bringing this matter to finality without delay. The Government will take a decision soon on the date of his release. Unfortunately, a further short passage of time is unavoidable.'' Mr. de Klerk attributed the postponement of Mr. Mandela's freedom to ''factors in the way of his immediate release, of which his personal circumstances and safety are not the least.'' The President, as well as other Government ministers, refused to explain further. But Stoffel van der Merwe, Minister of Development Aid and Education, which encompasses the education of blacks, briefed reporters on Mr. de Klerk's speech today and told them that ''I don't think we will see Christmas with Mr. Mandela in jail.'' Others informed about the Government's thinking expect Mr. Mandela's release to come within weeks, if not days.
The 71-year-old anti-apartheid leader, who is living on a prison farm outside Cape Town, has been quoted by recent visitors as demanding that the Government improve the political climate before he leaves prison. The conditions mentioned included the legalization of the African National Congress, the release of political detainees, the lifting of the national state of emergency decree and an end to political trials and executions.
Mr. de Klerk appeared to cover most of those demands as he repeated his willingness to discuss a new constitution that would give political rights to the black majority without forcing the white minority to relinquish power. ''With the steps the Government has taken, it has proven its good faith and the table is laid for sensible leaders to begin talking about a new dispensation, to reach an understanding by way of dialogue and discussion,'' Mr. de Klerk said. The other changes announced by Mr. de Klerk included these:
* Emergency regulations curtailing the freedom of press will be repealed, except for unspecified conditions limiting photographic and television coverage of racial unrest.
* Restrictions on 33 organizations whose activities were curtailed under the national state of emergency decree will be lifted.
* Restrictions on the movements and contacts of 374 people released from detention are to be lifted and the regulations hampering their freedom are to be abolished.
* Political detentions will be limited to six months, and detainees will have the right to legal representation and a doctor of their choice.
Opponents of apartheid have estimated that 30,000 people have been detained since the national state of emergency decree was imposed in June 1986, and many of those were held indefinitely without access to a lawyer or doctor. In addition to the African National Congress, the most prominent groups whose activities will no longer be restricted are the South African Communist Party, a longtime ally of Mr. Mandela's group, and a rival, the Pan-Africanist Congress, which places greater stress on the role of black leadership in the anti-apartheid struggle.
The list also includes the United Democratic Front, a coalition of anti-apartheid parties, the South African National Students Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a labor federation active in the struggle against apartheid, the National Education Crisis Committee, and the White Freedom Movement, a right-wing paramilitary group promoting white racial supremacy, which was banned in December 1989.
Mr. de Klerk acknowledged that the national state of emergency regulations remained in force, but said they would now inhibit only those who used chaos and disorder as political weapons. ''It is my intention to terminate the state of emergency as soon as circumstances justify it and I request the cooperation of everybody toward this end,'' the President said. The changes announced today, while probably the most dramatic announced by any South African President in a single speech, leave in place the basic structures of apartheid, including the Population Registration Act, which classifies every South African by race, and the Group Areas Act, which enforces the segregation of neighborhoods. Blacks also remain largely excluded from the political process.
The country is governed by a three-chamber Parliament, representing whites, Asians and people of mixed race, and a President elected by the legislators. Blacks, who represent about 75 percent of the total population of 38.5 million, have no representation. But Mr. de Klerk said the Separate Amenities Act, which has allowed municipal officials to bar blacks from publicly owned centers, installations and facilities, would be repealed by Parliament in its current session, as he had promised late last year. Mr. de Klerk further announced that the Government would confine the use of the death penalty to what he called ''extreme cases,'' in part by allowing judges greater discretion in imposing it. ''The net of extenuating circumstances will be substantally increased,'' Foreign Minister Roelof F. Botha, a confidant of Mr. de Klerk, told reporters. Under current South African law, a judge is required to sentence a defendent to hang if the defendant is convicted of a capital crime.
Critics of apartheid have viewed the death penalty as an instrument of repression, because blacks account for most condemned prisoners and because capital punishment has been applied in politically motivated crimes. Mr. de Klerk said those sentenced to death would automatically be granted the right to appeal their sentences, which is now at the judge's discretion. Those changes, he said, would be extended to those currently on death row. ''Therefore, all executions have been suspended and no executions will take place until Parliament has taken a final decision on the new proposals.'' he said. ''In the event of the proposals being adopted, the case of every person involved will be dealt with in accordance with the new guidelines.''
Taken altogether, the changes announced by Mr. de Klerk amount to a significant reconsideration of the Government's policy toward dissent, because they appear to address most of the complaints by the anti-apartheid movement about Government repression. Prominent members of the anti-apartheid movement reacted with optimism tempered by caution. They attributed the changes to the domestic and international pressure applied against Pretoria, not to Mr. de Klerk's boldness.
At a news conference called here by the United Democratic Front, its publicity secretary, Patrick Lekota, said Mr. de Klerk's speech showed that international sanctions against South Africa worked and that the measures should be maintained and intensified. ''To lift sanctions now will be to run the risk of aborting the process toward democracy,'' Mr. Lekota said. But Dr. Andries P. Treurnicht, leader of the right-wing Conservative Party in Parliament, called Mr. de Klerk's speech shocking. He demanded that Mr. de Klerk, whose National Party was returned to power last September, hold a new election to see how much support whites would give him now.
The regulations enacting most of the changes, which take effect immediately, are to be published in the Government Gazette beginning tomorrow. Mr. van der Merwe said the Government had not set any conditions on the legalization of the African National Congress, which has been outlawed since 1960, or on its resumption of political activity. He also said members of the organization living in exile could return home without fear of punishment, as long as they had not been charged with criminal offenses. And he said members held in South African jails for illegal political activity, though not crimes, would be released.
Source: New York Times
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