Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 7, 1990 TAG: 9006070532
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA LENGTH: Medium
De Klerk's decision, the latest in a series of reforms by his government, partially removes a major obstacle to negotiations on ending apartheid and giving the black majority a voice in the government.
"I have decided to announce there will no longer be a general countrywide state of emergency, but that henceforth it will exist in Natal only" de Klerk said in a speech to Parliament.
Violence in the southeastern province has left about 500 people dead since the first of the year.
"I can confidently say that the government is adhering to the commitments that I have made since I became state president," de Klerk said. "Differences are being overcome by negotiation."
In Paris, Nelson Mandela called de Klerk's move "a victory for the people," but the leader of the African National Congress urged the West to maintain economic sanctions against the government.
Some South African newspapers have said that by ending the emergency now de Klerk could be trying to undermine Mandela as he tours the world calling for continued sanctions.
The ANC and other leading anti-apartheid groups in South Africa have made the repeal of the emergency one of their preconditions for full-scale negotiations with the government on a new constitution.
De Klerk says he wants the document to allow the country's 28 million blacks to share power with the 5 million whites.
The emergency laws, which included some of the harshest restrictions on political activity ever imposed by South Africa's white rulers, had to be renewed by midnight Friday if they were to remain in effect for another year.
More than 30,000 activists, almost all of them black, have been detained without trial for varying lengths of time during the emergency. Others went into hiding. About 300 remain in detention.
Many of the emergency regulations are duplicated in existing legislation, but the emergency decree allowed the government and police to bypass the courts in detaining people without trial, banning political activity, suspending newspapers and censoring public speech.
The emergency decree also protected police against prosecution.
De Klerk's predecessor, P.W. Botha, declared the nationwide emergency on June 12, 1986, in a bid to quell mounting black unrest.
De Klerk had nullified some of the emergency restrictions as part of a series of reforms implemented since he assumed power in August. He also has released scores of detainees and long-term political prisoners.
De Klerk had said he would lift the state of emergency if authorities were confident they could control violence, especially in Natal, where more than 500 blacks died in factional fighting in the first three months of this year.
by CNB