Zulu Chief Quits Talks in S. Africa : Politics: Peace process is thrown into turmoil. A bitter Buthelezi accuses archrival Mandela and ally De Klerk of excluding him from negotiations.

Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, angered by historic agreements reached by rival Nelson Mandela and President Frederik W. de Klerk, threw the peace process into turmoil Sunday by pulling his party out of constitutional negotiations.

Buthelezi, a key figure in black politics, accused De Klerk’s government and Mandela’s African National Congress of making deals about the country’s future during an ANC-government summit meeting Saturday without consulting him and other South African leaders.

He also broke off direct contact with De Klerk, a Buthelezi ally, saying that the ANC is “holding the South African government up to ransom.” And he warned De Klerk and Mandela that his Inkatha Freedom Party is “a national political force (that) can only be ignored at the peril of the negotiation process.”

Buthelezi’s announcement, made during festivities in Durban to honor the memory of King Shaka, founder of the Zulu nation, underscored the rough road facing this country as its leaders try to end violence and draw up a new constitution that will extend voting rights to the black majority for the first time.

Buthelezi erected the new obstacle only a day after a De Klerk-Mandela meeting in which the South African president, making important concessions to the ANC, successfully persuaded the ANC to end its three-month boycott of constitutional negotiations.

Now, with the ANC ready to return to the table, Buthelezi has decided to stay away.

And the Zulu chief vowed that his supporters would defy two key facets of the Mandela-De Klerk agreement. Under that accord, De Klerk promised to ban the carrying of all dangerous weapons, including Zulu spears, at public gatherings and to erect fences around several dozen Zulu migrant worker hostels that have been implicated in township violence.

Buthelezi warned that any actions resulting from the ANC-government meeting “will be rejected as spurious and illegitimate” by Inkatha and by the self-governing black homeland of KwaZulu. He said the ban on dangerous weapons was aimed at preventing Zulus from carrying “traditional weapons,” such as spears, and would be unenforceable. And he said the decision to fence hostels was “anti-Zulu racism.”

Both De Klerk and Mandela, in separate interviews Sunday night on state-run television, said they remain committed to multi-party negotiations, which would include Buthelezi. And they suggested that Buthelezi is overreacting to the ANC-government talks, noting that Inkatha has had numerous one-on-one discussions with the government in recent months.

“I find it a pity that Chief Minister Buthelezi has reacted as he has done,” De Klerk said. He added that his meeting with Mandela was designed to bring the ANC back to multi-party talks, not to exclude Buthelezi.

But, the president said, “it appears to me, more and more, that we won’t have peace until Mr. Mandela and Dr. Buthelezi also make their peace.”

Mandela said the ANC believes that Buthelezi and all other leaders in the country should be included in the negotiations process. But he said the process is doomed to failure if the ANC and the government, “the two major parties,” do not cooperate with each other.

The ANC and Inkatha are longtime rivals, and fights between their supporters have been responsible for much of the township bloodshed that has claimed nearly 8,000 lives in the past three years.

*

The ANC, a multiethnic group, is the most powerful anti-apartheid force in South Africa. Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party, a predominantly Zulu organization based in Natal province, has close links with the government and conservative whites.

Their rivalry began long before De Klerk took office, however, when disagreements over how to fight apartheid triggered bloodshed between Zulus supporting the ANC and Zulus supporting Inkatha. Like Mandela and the ANC, Buthelezi has been a lifelong opponent of apartheid. But because he has chosen to work within the system as chief minister of KwaZulu, many in the ANC view him as a collaborator.

Although Buthelezi does not have the political power of either Mandela or De Klerk, it is generally accepted that the Zulu chief, whose organization claims more than 2 million members, must be accommodated in any future talks.

Buthelezi sees himself, along with Mandela and De Klerk, as one of the most important leaders in the country. In the past he has been extremely sensitive to what he believes are attempts push his influence to the margins. And he has rallied hundreds of thousands of Zulus against the ANC, often provoking violence, by accusing his rivals of being “anti-Zulu.”

The Zulu chief said Sunday that he is suspending his talks with the government, as well as his participation in multi-party constitutional negotiations, until he can consult with his supporters and other leaders in the country.

“The government thought they had us in their pocket,” said Walter Felgate, a member of Inkatha’s Central Committee. “They thought they could play politics with the ANC and we’d be back. But De Klerk hasn’t been listening to the chief minister.”

De Klerk said he had informed Buthelezi, in a face-to-face meeting 10 days ago and by message more recently, of the broad outlines of his government’s emerging agreement with the ANC. But Felgate said the agreement came “as a total shock.”

*

“We regard the agreements reached with Mandela as a total sellout of our understanding of the government’s position,” Felgate said.

De Klerk and Buthelezi had been scheduled to meet Tuesday, but that meeting has been canceled. And De Klerk, who says he has a relationship of “mutual respect” with Buthelezi, said he will write the chief a letter.

In a bitterly worded statement, Buthelezi complained that De Klerk and Mandela had reached agreements that should have been discussed in negotiations with all major parties in the country.

About the Zulu leader’s specific objection to the agreement on dangerous weapons, De Klerk noted Sunday that the weapons ban would let Inkatha and other parties apply for exemptions from panels of retired judges established in each province. Inkatha contends, though, that the accord amounts to a demand that Zulus request permission to show respect for their leaders, something it says Zulus will not do.

“How can we tell people who are being mowed down by (ANC members with) AK-47s that they must leave their spears and shields at home?” Felgate asked.

*

Inkatha also objected to the ANC-government agreement for drawing up a new constitution. Mandela and De Klerk agreed that an elected body would draw up the constitution and serve as an interim government.

Buthelezi, whose support is centered primarily in one region of the country, strongly opposes a nationally elected body to write the constitution, arguing that such a plan would probably let an ANC majority control the process. Instead, Inkatha wants regionally elected bodies to draft the constitution and determine the powers of a federal government.