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- WORLD, Page 37World NotesSOUTH AFRICADeath in the Townships
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- The church-sponsored peace accord signed last weekend by the
- governing National Party and the country's leading black
- parties -- the African National Congress and Inkatha -- was
- supposed to help end the factional violence that has taken the
- lives of almost 11,000 blacks since 1984. But in the week
- leading up to the agreement, more than 120 people were killed
- in the year's worst outbreak of black-on-black violence, dashing
- hopes that the pact would soon bring peace to the strife-torn
- townships.
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- The latest bloodletting began in Thokoza, southeast of
- Johannesburg, when gunmen opened fire on Zulus headed for an
- Inkatha rally. The toll: 23 dead. Avenging Zulus held the A.N.C.
- responsible, and within hours were on the offensive in Thokoza
- and other townships. Over the next five days, at least 100 more
- died in clashes that included attacks on commuter buses and
- trains. The A.N.C. denied involvement, suggesting instead that
- right-wing white extremists were to blame. That could be true,
- but many blacks were unconvinced. "It seems we cannot cope with
- victory," wrote Aggrey Klaaste, editor of the black newspaper
- the Sowetan. "White soldiers are now needed to tear us from one
- another's throats."
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