Tutu Calls for Peacekeepers in South Africa

Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu called Monday for international peacekeepers to stop township violence after more than 90 blacks died in a frenzy of weekend shootings, stabbings and arson attacks.

Townships around Johannesburg were described by police as very tense Monday, and commuter trains halted service into affected areas as stonings, shootings and firebomb attacks continued.

At daybreak, bodies lay beside burned-out cars and shacks, and armed gangs roamed the streets. A police report said 91 people had died since Saturday in area townships, making it one of the bloodiest weekends in months.

“The latest killings . . . have demonstrated beyond doubt that we are incapable of restoring law and order ourselves,” Tutu said in a call for foreign intervention that has been raised in the past by the African National Congress.

State Department press officer Sondra McCarty said in Washington that the United States deplores “in the strongest possible terms” the outbreak of violence.

“All parties in South Africa must work closely to break this cycle,” she said. “We call on the government to investigate all such acts of violence. The parties in South Africa must focus their efforts urgently on securing a political agreement.”

Negotiations on a new constitution were dominated by debate on the latest violence, part of a maelstrom linked to the politically charged talks. Township attacks have increased with the pace of negotiations as extremists opposed to decisions made in the talks vent their anger.

President Frederik W. de Klerk said the violence would not delay the negotiations or plans for the country’s first multiracial election in April, 1994.

“If we allow (violence) to stop us making progress, we will be giving a veto to a very small, vociferous minority,” De Klerk said Sunday night in a television interview.

But ANC Secretary General Cyril Ramaphosa said violence will remain uncontrollable unless the government gives up sole control of the security forces, which he called “an apartheid creation.”

“That will send a ray of hope through this country,” Ramaphosa said.

The ANC has accused police of waiting several hours before responding to an attack Saturday night that killed 33 blacks. Police Maj. Gen. Leon Mellet denied the accusation and pointed out that police arrested two people the day after the massacre.