S. Africans Move to Halt Violence

A plan to stop bloodshed in black townships has won tentative approval from the government and the two leading black opposition groups, officials said Thursday.

According to a joint statement issued by the parties after two months of secret talks, the white-led government, the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party agreed Wednesday night on a plan to combat the violence.

The parties scheduled a peace conference Sept. 14 to sign a treaty, said Val Pauquet of the National Peace Initiative, a committee of church and business groups that helped arrange the talks.

The plan would set a code of conduct for political parties and government security forces, establish neutral monitoring groups and call for political rivals to halt inflammatory verbal attacks on each other.

The peace agreement could remove a major obstacle to multi-party talks on a new, non-racial constitution proposed by President Frederik W. de Klerk.

However, previous peace talks have had no effect on stemming black township violence.

The government and the ANC have been holding periodic talks for more than a year. In January, ANC leader Nelson Mandela and Inkatha Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi signed a peace agreement, but battles between their supporters rage on.

The ANC-Inkatha feud has been the main cause of township fighting that has claimed 6,000 lives in the last five years.