The World - News from Aug. 23, 1988

The government banned South Africa’s leading anti-draft organization, the End Conscription Campaign, which is opposed to compulsory military service for whites. The ban, issued by Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok under emergency regulations, came less than three weeks after 143 white conscripts announced that they would not serve in the South African army, saying they regarded it as an extension of apartheid. In handing down the ban, Vlok cited what he said was a plan by the anti-draft group to establish closer links with the United Democratic Front, an anti-apartheid group the government maintains is allied with the outlawed African National Congress.