The World - News from May 23, 1989

U.S. Ambassador Edward Perkins, ending his tour of duty in South Africa, said he remains encouraged by the determination of the black majority to be free despite government suppression. But as he concluded 2 1/2 years as the first black U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Perkins said the most disappointing events of his tenure were the continuation of the government state of emergency to control anti-apartheid protests, the banning of 17 activist groups and the large numbers of people arrested and held without charge under the government’s emergency powers. Perkins, 60, was a strong critic of such developments.