De Klerk Tries to Lure ANC to Talks : South Africa: His olive branch, though spurned, raises hopes that the negotiations breakdown may be resolved.

President Frederik W. de Klerk tried to lure the African National Congress back to the negotiating table Wednesday, promising to invite international experts to help investigate violence and evaluate the police probe of last week’s township massacre.

The president also called for a two-day meeting with the ANC to discuss the black opposition group’s demands as well as government concerns, which include the ANC’s mass protest campaign and “inflammatory and unacceptable rhetoric” by ANC leaders.

But the ANC, which broke off all political negotiations Tuesday, was far from satisfied.

It called De Klerk’s remarks a “paltry response,” and it flatly rejected a summit with the government to resolve the impasse. Such talks would have “only propaganda value and will serve no useful purpose” unless De Klerk first takes more concrete steps to meet its demands, the ANC said.

“The (ruling) National Party still fails to appreciate the depth of the national crisis it has plunged the country into,” the ANC said.

The ANC added that the promise to include international experts on the commission investigating violence in South Africa “falls far short of what the situation warrants.” It called instead for “a meaningful role for the international community in monitoring the violence,” contending that the government’s refusal to allow that shows “they have a lot to hide.”

Despite the negative ANC reaction, De Klerk’s promises appeared to go at least part of the way toward meeting several key ANC demands. And his attempt to extend an olive branch to the ANC raised hopes across the country that a resolution of the current breakdown in talks is possible.

ANC Secretary General Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday that if the government “takes practical steps that are adequate . . . the negotiation process will be back on track.”

Although the ANC formally rejected talks with the government on the impasse, ANC leader Nelson Mandela does plan to present his organization’s demands in a meeting with De Klerk this week. At that meeting, the government will urge the ANC to remain long enough to discuss their differences.

But the ANC raised the ante Wednesday by saying it would expand its protest by urging that South Africa be banned from the Olympic Games and that international rugby and soccer tours be postponed until the country is “firmly on the road to democracy.”

Steve Tshwete, the ANC sports chief, said his group will ask that the international sports boycott be fully reimposed, with a ban that would keep South Africa out of the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, next month. The boycott has prevented South Africa from sending a team to the Olympics since 1960.

Sam Ramsamy, head of the country’s Olympic Committee, said he has no plans to withdraw the team. But he said he will be consulting with the ANC.

“We are constantly monitoring the situation, and if circumstances called for it, then we would have to re-examine our position,” he said.

The ANC withdrew from the talks Tuesday to protest alleged police involvement in the violence that has claimed 8,000 black lives since De Klerk launched his reform program in 1990. The ANC, supported by witnesses to the massacre of 39 black men, women and children last week, contends that police and security force vehicles helped about 200 black men carry out the attack in Boipatong.

De Klerk angrily rejected the accusations Wednesday, saying they were “without any foundation whatsoever, and we find them reprehensible.”

“We have nothing to gain from that (violence),” De Klerk told reporters in Pretoria. “In our country, many people are hungry, many are poor. We need foreign investment.” And, he said, the violence tends to scare off foreign investors.

The president added, however, that an independent judicial commission is assessing allegations of police complicity in township violence. And he said “it’s not impossible” that officers were involved.

“It happens in all countries,” he said. “If there is evidence, we will follow it up. But policemen are also entitled to a fair hearing.”

The role of international governments and experts in monitoring the violence has long been a sticking point between De Klerk and the ANC. The ANC wants a full international commission of inquiry because it suspects a government plot to foster violence and destroy the ANC’s reputation in the townships.

De Klerk said he would welcome advice and recommendations from foreign governments and international fact-finding missions. But he reiterated the government’s “firm stand against foreign interference in South Africa’s affairs.”

The president Wednesday asked the head of the judicial commission of inquiry into violence to add one South African or foreign expert of “international repute” as an assessor. He also asked the commission to select one or two experts of international standing to evaluate the police investigation into the Boipatong tragedy.

So far, police have made six arrests in that case.

The president said he will address the ANC’s 12 specific demands in talks with the organization. They include demands that the government end repression in the homelands, suspend and prosecute all officers involved in the violence, end all covert operations, release all political prisoners and repeal repressive legislation.

The ANC also insists that the government meet its promise to phase out the system of migrant worker hostels, which have been linked to much of the violence.