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- WORLD, Page 47World NotesSOUTH AFRICAHere a Snag, There a Snag
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- Nobody said it was going to be easy, but fresh hindrances
- now seem certain to hold up the start of formal negotiations
- on the "new South Africa" until well into next year. Last week,
- citing difficulties in repatriating 20,000 exiled members and
- setting up local branches, the African National Congress
- postponed its planned Dec. 16 national conference six months.
- The gathering will elect a new executive body and is expected
- to elevate Nelson Mandela to the A.N.C. presidency to replace
- the ailing Oliver Tambo. But government officials complained
- that the A.N.C.'s organizational problems could make it
- difficult for President F.W. de Klerk to convene full-scale
- discussions on a post-apartheid constitution by March, as
- planned.
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- The right-wing Conservative Party is also stalling reform
- and has refused to accept De Klerk's invitation to participate
- in the talks. The party's current preoccupation, in fact, is
- an internal debate over whether to launch a civil-disobedience
- campaign against the government. Conservative pressure won't
- derail the reform process, but it could force De Klerk to act
- even more cautiously to preserve his white base of support.
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