ANC Leaders to Meet De Klerk : Guerrillas Outlawed for 30 Years

In a major breakthrough, the exiled leadership of the African National Congress said today it will send a delegation to South Africa for talks with President Frederik W. de Klerk.

The meeting would be the first ever between the guerrilla movement’s exiled leaders and a South African head of state. The talks would focus on removing obstacles to formal negotiations. Both sides say they want to work out a new constitution that would include the black majority.

No date was immediately set for the informal talks.

Alfred Nzo, secretary-general of the ANC, also said the guerrilla movement was prepared to negotiate “a suspension of hostilities” once De Klerk meets the group’s remaining conditions for formal talks. The ANC has said the white-led government must release all political prisoners, lift the state of emergency and allow exiles to return before formal negotiations begin.

De Klerk has said he plans to take these steps, but he has not said when.

There was no immediate comment on today’s ANC statement from De Klerk’s office.

ANC leader Nelson R. Mandela, released from prison Feb. 11 after 27 years in prison, is to visit the ANC’s exile headquarters in Lusaka next week, probably Tuesday.

It was not clear whether the delegation of ANC exiles would go to South Africa before or after the Mandela visit.

“It is important immediately to begin the work of reestablishing the ANC within the country,” Nzo said, adding that the organization’s estimated 15,000 exiles would soon begin to return on a large scale.

Nzo said the ANC “resolved to meet Mr. De Klerk as soon as possible to discuss with him the need to address these issues so that a climate conducive to negotiations is created.”

The guerrilla movement said the delegation would include exiled members as well as leaders inside South Africa.

The ANC, the main black group fighting white rule in South Africa, has been waging a bombing and sabotage campaign since 1961. However, the armed struggle has been largely dormant in the past year and poses no serious threat to the white-led government.

The announcement followed three days of meetings to evaluate recent reforms announced Feb. 2 by De Klerk, such as legalizing more than 60 opposition groups, including the ANC; the release of Mandela; the easing of press restrictions, and a moratorium on executions.

Nzo said the ANC views these reforms “in a positive light.”

The ANC, which was banned for 30 years, also said it will open offices in South Africa.

Mandela, in an interview today, said he would be willing to meet with De Klerk to discuss the prospect of negotiations.

“I have found him to be a man of integrity with whom I can do business,” Mandela said.

De Klerk wants to negotiate a new constitution that will include the 28 million black majority in the national government. But he opposes a one-man, one-vote system and outright black majority rule, the basic demand of all leading anti-apartheid groups, including the ANC. He envisions a mechanism that will give whites veto power.