Mediation by U.N. Possible in South Africa

Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, summing up a dramatic round of diplomacy, reported Sunday that the United Nations may play a role in trying to break the South African impasse between President Frederik W. de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela.

In an interview at the end of a 10-day visit to Africa and London, Boutros-Ghali said he plans to ask the Security Council this week to send an emissary to South Africa to study the tense situation.

In a little-noted flurry of meetings, the secretary general conferred with South African Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha in the Nigerian capital of Abuja more than a week ago and with Mandela in the Senegalese capital of Dakar a couple of days later. He also met with officials of two of Mandela’s rival political movements, the Inkatha Freedom Party of Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi and the Pan-Africanist Congress.

As a result, Boutros-Ghali said, “the beginning of a consensus is forming for a U.N. role.” The secretary general said he proposed such a role--without being specific--at these meetings.

“Buthelezi’s officials accepted, and so did the Pan-Africanist Congress,” Boutros-Ghali said. “Pik Botha said he would have to think about it, but he did not say no. Mandela said he would have to think about it, but he did not say no.”

These conversations--and the fact that the meetings were requested by the various South African factions rather than initiated by the United Nations--have encouraged Boutros-Ghali enough that he plans to seek approval for a South African mission in an informal meeting with members of the Security Council this week.

The secretary general said it is not yet clear what kind of role the United Nations could play in the crisis. But he mentioned some possibilities: It could serve as a mediator, an observer or even some kind of behind-the-scenes actor.

He said he had told the South African antagonists: “My proposal is a simple one. We are ready to assist. We are ready to help you. How, when, what will be the framework, what will be the mandate--that is another problem.”

Mandela’s ANC broke off all constitutional talks with President De Klerk’s government more than two weeks ago after it accused the government and the Inkatha of complicity in the massacre of more than 40 blacks in the township of Boipatong.

Since then, De Klerk and Mandela have exchanged recriminations, and, despite some concessions offered by De Klerk, Mandela has refused to resume the constitutional talks. These talks were convened to lead South Africa to a multiracial, democratic society.

In discussing his hopes that the momentum for constitutional change will continue in South Africa, Boutros-Ghali expressed some concern over a resolution by the Organization of African Unity calling for a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the South African crisis. The secretary general said there is fear that such a session, replete with many African condemnations of the white South African government, would exacerbate the problem.

For that reason, he said, he wants the Security Council to move quickly in approving a mission to South Africa, so that hard information could be gathered before the rhetoric began.

Boutros-Ghali said that telephone calls from Botha and Mandela reached him in New York before he left on his tour. The secretary general knew them both well from his days as Egyptian minister of state for foreign affairs. He was a member of group of diplomats who helped persuade South African officials to release Mandela from prison in 1990.

Boutros-Ghali suggested that Mandela confer with him during the annual summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Dakar. The secretary general could not make the same suggestion to Botha because Senegalese President Abdou Diouf, fearing that a white South African delegation would disrupt the conference, denied him entry.

But Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the military ruler of Nigeria, agreed that Boutros-Ghali could receive the white South African delegation during his official visit to Abuja. A delegation from Inkatha was allowed to fly there as well.

On the next leg of his journey, Boutros-Ghali met Mandela in Dakar, where both were attending the OAU summit. The Pan-Africanist Congress, like Mandela’s ANC, is an official observer at the OAU summit, and Boutros-Ghali was able to meet both factions with ease.

“In these questions, each side wants to present its point of view,” Boutros-Ghali explained. “I can only perform a role if they want me to. Sometimes they want me to but can’t say so.”

At his session with Botha, Boutros-Ghali also accepted an invitation from President De Klerk to visit South Africa. But no date was set.