WORLD : De Klerk Lifts Natal Emergency
President Frederik W. de Klerk today lifted the state of emergency in violence-torn Natal province, meeting a key demand that had slowed peace talks with the African National Congress.
“The state of emergency has now been completely lifted,” De Klerk told a news conference. “There is only one route to peace and reconciliation--that is through peaceful negotiation.” He said the door to negotiations “is now fully open and I am appealing to all leaders and all South Africans to accept the challenge.”
The ANC welcomed the move. It has long demanded the emergency be lifted as a condition for full-scale negotiations on black-white power sharing and ending apartheid. A power struggle there between the ANC and the conservative Inkatha movement has claimed 5,000 lives since 1986.
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