De Klerk Warns of Civil War From Black Violence
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — President Frederik W. de Klerk said Monday that violence in black townships could lead the country to civil war, and he made an emotional appeal for black leaders to join him for peace talks.
As De Klerk spoke to Parliament in Cape Town, police searched townships outside Johannesburg for more victims of weekend clashes that left at least 43 people dead. Two more people died in Natal province.
“We can’t go on like this,” De Klerk said. “This approach and culture of violence leads to polarization which may land us in a civil war.”
He criticized the African National Congress, the main black opposition group, for giving him a May 9 deadline to curb violence but welcomed the ANC’s “cry for peace.”
De Klerk asked ANC leader Nelson Mandela and the leader of the rival Inkatha Freedom Party, Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, to meet with him immediately to discuss the violence. Most township unrest pits supporters of the ANC against Inkatha backers.
De Klerk also repeated his appeals for political, church and academic leaders to participate in a May 24-25 peace summit.
The ANC has denounced the peace summit as a government ploy to win international support and divert attention from other issues and it says it will not attend. Inkatha plans to take part.
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