U.S. Ready to Help S. Africa Peace Talks, Bush Says

President Bush on Wednesday urged U.S. businesses operating in South Africa to “work for change” and said the United States is prepared to assist the negotiations intended to bring greater democracy to the racially divided nation.

Bush, who has had little to say publicly about South Africa in recent weeks, praised President Frederik W. de Klerk but called for greater progress toward assuring full political participation for the nation’s black majority.

“We can now take hope that the age of apartheid is nearing a close,” Bush said.

Speaking at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Joint Center for Political Studies, a primarily black think tank, Bush called for an end to South Africa’s state of emergency, which grants extraordinary powers to law enforcement authorities, and for the release of all South African political prisoners.

“Most of all, there must be an end to the tragic cycle of violence--a task that demands great courage and resolve from all South African leaders, black and white,” Bush said.

Bush’s approach was similar to that of Secretary of State James A. Baker III during a visit to Johannesburg last month. Baker also praised De Klerk but urged his government to do more to end apartheid, the policy of official separation of the races.

The decision to send Baker reflected recent shifts resulting from the release of Nelson R. Mandela, the black leader who was imprisoned 27 years, and the willingness of the De Klerk government to begin discussing the dismantling of apartheid.

“The government’s attempts to enforce apartheid through force and repression have failed. Violent attacks by opponents of apartheid inside South Africa have equally failed,” he said.

“Most tragically, the senseless violence perpetrated by blacks, against blacks, has become a major impediment to rapid progress toward a negotiated settlement,” he added, calling on all sides there to follow the example of nonviolence set by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The violence in South Africa has pitted not only black opponents of apartheid against some of its white supporters, but blacks have fought blacks in violent struggles over leadership of the anti-apartheid movement.

Calls by Mandela shortly after he was released from prison in February for an end to the violence have gone largely unheeded.

While Bush’s comments hewed closely to longstanding U.S. policy, they reflected a readiness to focus public attention on the issues now under open discussion in South Africa.