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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK WORLD, Page 16Violence in Ciskei
Another South African bloodbath may force De Klerk and the A.N.C.
to talk
The grisly outcome was predictable. The 60,000 African
National Congress supporters who marched to the border of South
Africa's so-called independent homeland of Ciskei were not
unexpected. The chanting A.N.C. demonstrators had vowed to storm
the capital, Bisho, and unseat the military government of
Brigadier Oupa Gqozo. When they broke through a gap in a razor-
wire fence at the border, trigger-happy troops of the Ciskei army
began shooting directly into the crowd. After two prolonged
bursts of gunfire, 28 people lay dead in pools of blood; another
400 were wounded, either by gunfire or in the stampede that
followed.
The retributions were equally predictable. The A.N.C.
blamed the government of President F.W. de Klerk, which props
up the puppet Ciskei regime and trains its army. The incident,
said A.N.C. President Nelson Mandela, will add to De Klerk's
"roll call of infamy." The South African President said he had
warned Mandela of the possibility of violence in the A.N.C.'s
mass-action campaign against Ciskei and announced that there
could no longer be any political negotiations with the A.N.C.
until the question of the "vortex of violence" had been dealt
with.
Ironically, the bloodshed on the road to Bisho may serve
to bring De Klerk and Mandela together. The A.N.C. said it was
"prepared to participate" in a summit which would break months
of bitter estrangement between the two leaders. And Foreign
Minister R.F. ("Pik") Botha has asked the United Nations not
just for observers but also for a mediator to help curb the
violence and get the constitutional negotiations back on track.
Given the mutual mistrust that has existed for decades between
South Africa and the U.N., that appeal underlined South
Africa's desperation.