Mandela Calls Sanctions Drive a Success : Apartheid: Western nations back his effort to maintain curbs against South Africa, he says as he winds up monthlong tour.

African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela ended his historic monthlong tour of the United States and Europe on Wednesday night, declaring that his mission to persuade the West to maintain economic sanctions against the South African government has “succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

“We go back to our country feeling that we have the full support of the international community,” the South African black leader told a press conference here after meeting for three hours with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is Mandela’s staunchest opponent on the issue of economic sanctions and the use of violent struggle by the ANC.

Both Mandela and a spokesman for Thatcher agreed that the first-ever meeting between the two former adversaries produced no breakthroughs, with the British leader standing firm on her position that the European Community should relax its strict sanctions as a reward for South African President Frederik W. de Klerk’s reform policies.

“She stated her position, and we stated our position,” Mandela said in describing the meeting in which the two leaders agreed to disagree. “But both of us did not feel it necessary to debate the issue.”

In fact, both sides took pains to put the best possible face on the lengthy luncheon meeting at the prime minister’s residence, 10 Downing Street, which most analysts predicted would be the biggest hurdle of Mandela’s tour.

“They had a very good exchange,” Thatcher’s spokesman said. “They agreed to keep in touch.”

For his part, Mandela used the words “warm and gentle” to describe Thatcher, who three years ago called the African National Congress, of which Mandela is deputy president, “a typical terrorist organization.”

Mandela described the meeting as “cordial” and “productive,” adding, “I am very encouraged.”

“We have points of agreement on which we will concentrate,” Mandela said, stressing, “There is no doubt that she is an enemy of apartheid.

“The point is, we have started the process of consultations, and that is very important,” he added.

When the two leaders greeted each other in a light drizzle, they both smiled broadly and shook hands vigorously for the dozens of cameras outside on Downing Street.

Despite the intensity and length of his tour, the 71-year-old Mandela showed no signs of strain or fatigue during the half-hour news conference. Instead, he brought several rounds of laughter when reporters tried to pin him down on issues as far-reaching as the Palestine Liberation Organization and the ideological debate raging in the Soviet Communist Party.

When one Soviet journalist asked him whether he supports President Mikhail S. Gorbachev or Yegor K. Ligachev, Gorbachev’s principal critic among Soviet conservatives, Mandela smiled and politely replied, “Don’t recruit me.”

Several analysts saw such glib answers as an effort to avert controversies similar to the one Mandela touched off during his two-day visit to Dublin, where he called on Thatcher’s government to negotiate with the Irish Republican Army, an organization that the prime minister views as a terrorist group trying to undermine democracy in Northern Ireland.

Although Mandela’s comment triggered a storm of debate in London, it was largely forgotten by the time he departed late Wednesday.

Mandela also resisted journalists’ efforts to pin him down to a timetable for sanctions. He had urged 250 top British industrialists to continue to support the sanctions for up to two years more during a speech Wednesday.

“We are aware of the damage which has been done to our economy by sanctions,” he told the business audience. “And we do not want our economy to be reduced to ashes by the maintenance of sanctions. All we are saying to the international communities is, ‘Give us a few months, if not a year or two, to resolve this question amongst ourselves.’ ”