S. African Accord to End ANC’s Guerrilla Activity : Apartheid: The agreement is seen as helping the peace process and speeding the release of political prisoners.

The African National Congress and the government, removing a serious threat to the South African peace process, ratified an agreement Friday that will end all ANC underground guerrilla activity and expedite the release of political prisoners.

The accord, heralded as a major breakthrough by both sides, was likely to significantly speed up the black-white negotiation process and pave the way for the removal of American sanctions against Pretoria.

“This will serve as a stimulus to the negotiation process,” President Frederik W. de Klerk said. “Matters which stood in (our) way . . . have now been resolved.”

De Klerk added that the spirit of the talks reflected “a genuine desire on both sides to solve difficult problems sensibly. It bodes well for the road ahead.”

Pallo Jordan, chief ANC spokesman, said the pact was “a step in the right direction.” And he agreed that it could “bring negotiations onto the agenda much more quickly than expected.”

The agreement, ratified by the ANC and the government and released on Friday, was reached Tuesday in an all-day meeting between De Klerk and ANC Deputy President Nelson Mandela. The meeting had been called to resolve an impasse over an August agreement to suspend the ANC’s armed struggle, free political prisoners and allow the safe return of political exiles.

Under the new accord, the ANC agreed that its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), would immediately stop training soldiers inside the country, halt the infiltration of men and materials and stop planning new underground operations. It also agreed to stop making “threats of armed action” as well as “statements inciting violence.”

In exchange, the government agreed to allow the ANC to conduct mass demonstrations, such as those seeking the resignations of black township councilors, so long as the protests did not involve violence or intimidation. It also promised to step up the process of identifying and releasing political prisoners and of granting indemnity to exiles.

Kobie Coetsee, the government minister of justice, said Friday night that the processing of applications for the release of 760 prisoners was “in an advanced stage.” So far, 262 political prisoners have been released, Coetsee said, and De Klerk on Friday ordered seven more prisoners freed from the penal colony on Robben Island.

However, the government and the ANC do not agree on the total number of prisoners incarcerated for political offenses. The ANC says about 3,000 political prisoners should be released.

Coetsee said that only a small percentage of the estimated 40,000 political exiles have applied for indemnity from prosecution. The justice ministry has granted indemnity to 2,092 exiles so far and still is considering the applications of 1,400 others, he added.

The accord did not resolve the sensitive matter of ANC arms caches inside the country, and De Klerk said “it is of major importance that a satisfactory arrangement be made” to remove them. That issue will be taken up by a joint ANC-government “working group.”

“We made it clear that we are not going to surrender weapons, now and even in the future,” said Matthew Phoswa, an ANC official. “Those arms and men are to remain where they are.”

The agreement appears to make substantial progress toward meeting the most important demands of the ANC, which threatened to pull out of talks with the government if political prisoners were not released by April 30, the deadline set in the August accord.

Releasing those prisoners also would meet the only remaining obstacle to removing the U.S. Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, the strict economic sanctions package passed by Congress in 1986 over President Ronald Reagan’s veto.

That act, which imposes the world’s strictest sanctions against Pretoria, allows President Bush to lift sanctions, with the permission of Congress, if the South African government frees “all persons persecuted for their political beliefs” and meets three of four remaining conditions.

American diplomats here say the government already has met three of those conditions--lifting the state of emergency, legalizing all political parties and agreeing to enter good-faith negotiations with the black majority. De Klerk also has promised to meet the fourth in this session of Parliament, which ends in June, by repealing laws that mandate segregated residential areas and classify all persons in South Africa by race.

Although the ANC opposes any loosening of sanctions against Pretoria, the Bush Administration has said that it will move swiftly to seek congressional approval to begin dismantling sanctions once the South African government frees its political prisoners.