Good Start but More to Do : * Another Barrier Removed in South Africa

South Africa’s President Frederik W. de Klerk has ended the harsh state of emergency which emboldened the police, censored the press, denied free speech and limited assembly in his troubled country. Though long overdue, the welcome step has removed a major barrier to negotiations between the white minority government and the black majority.

The restrictions were imposed in 1986. Since then, police have arrested and detained, often without charges, more than 30,000 people, most of them black men and women. The provisions also forced thousands into hiding and silenced most dissent in that divided nation.

The emergency regulations remain intact in the Natal province, where at least 4,000 people have died in fighting among rival black political groups. De Klerk should reconsider the state of emergency there because the harsh restrictions have not helped curb the killing. That responsibility lies largely with black leaders--especially Zulu Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, whose Inkatha movement is involved in much of the violence.

De Klerk deserves credit for ending the oppressive emergency rule and the other steps he has taken to create a climate conducive to negotiating a nonracial democracy. He has freed Nelson Mandela, wrongly imprisoned by the government for 27 years, and unbanned the African National Congress. He met last month with Mandela in what was the first serious meeting between the white government and ANC since the anti-apartheid group was founded in 1912. And he kept his pledge to work for the repeal of public segregation.

But while ending racial segregation in buses, restaurants, parks and other public places may make life a little less demeaning for black South Africans, it is at best a modest reform in a nation where, by law, the majority is segregated in housing, education and employment--and still has no right to vote.

De Klerk has signaled he is ready to start serious negotiations to change that political system. But the ANC has set several conditions, including the return of exiles and amnesty for all political prisoners, who, like Mandela, fought against apartheid, before negotiations can begin.

As the world watches, Mandela is taking his anti-apartheid crusade to the rest of Africa, Europe and North America. He is scheduled to visit the United States later this month, and will meet with President Bush. De Klerk had been scheduled for an earlier visit to the White House. But as opposition to that visit grew in this country, he postponed his trip in yet another demonstration of his keen political acumen.

By lifting the state of emergency throughout most of South Africa, De Klerk has hastened change. But the international community must maintain its role by continuing economic sanctions to bring full equality closer for all South Africans.