Mandela calls for lifting of economic sanctions: oil, arms, nuclear embargoes to remain in place.

Nelson Mandela, President of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC), on 24 September called for the lifting of all economic sanctions against South Africa - widespread embargoes imposed by the UN over the years to bring an end to that country's racially-discriminatory policy of apartheid.

Mr. Mandela, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who had been jailed for 27 years for his opposition to apartheid, said that the historic step should not be viewed "as an act of abstention, but one of engagement", to create the best possible social and economic conditions for the victory of the democratic cause. Sanctions, he told the Special Committee against Apartheid, had brought South Africa to the point where the transition to democracy had been enshrined in the law of the country.

However, cautioning that South Africa had not yet elected a democratic and representative government, Mr. Mandela urged that the mandatory sanctions relating to arms and nuclear materials be maintained, pending the formation of a new government through elections scheduled for 27 April 1994. The issue of the oil embargo should be left to the discretion of the General Assembly's Intergovernmental Group on that matter.

Mr. Mandela wanted the international community to help halt the slide towards a socio-economic disaster in South Africa to ensure the success of a democratic transformation.

Years of apartheid had left a "swath of disaster" in its wake, he said. South Africa's economy had been devastated and million had no food, jobs or housing. Violent crime was increasing as desperate people were willing to kill for a pittance. He expressed hope that international and South African investors would help regenerate the country's economy.

The white minority government still in place, he went on, should not be granted recognition and treated as though it were the representative of all South Africans. However, Governments could, in coordination with the Transitional Executive Council, establish a diplomatic presence in South Africa as a means of assisting its people realize common objectives. The Executive Council, established by the South African Parliament on 23 September, will provide the country's first ever non-racial participation in Government before the elections.

The Security Council should consider what the UN could do to ansure that the elections are free and fair. The important contribution of the UN Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA) on the issue of political violence should be reviewed to ensure that the Mission adequately addresses that problem, he said.

The apartheid system treated people as though they were "disposable garbage", Mr. Mandela declared. The unprecedented global struggle had forced the regime to accept negotiations with all South Africans to transform the country into a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist nation.

Countdown to democracy

The "countdown to democracy" had begun, he emphasized. On 27 April 1994, all South Africans, without discrimination, would join in the historic act of electing a government of their choice. Statutory organs and institutions to supervise free elections had been established. South Africa would no longer be governed by a white minority regime.

There were still certain forces in South Africa, he felt, that did not accept the inevitability of democracy and were using brute force to deny the advent of liberty. Those groups derived their strength from fear, instability and terrorism. And there were still other forces which, motivated by narrow sectarian interests, were also opposed to change. The international community must resist any tendency of a slide towards another Somalia or a Bosnia, a development which would have repercussions extending far beyond the borders of South Africa.

Addressing the Special Committee on 28 September, Benny Alexander, Secretary-General of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), said international sanctions against South Africa should remain in place pending the adoption of the new constitution and the election of a government controlled by the African majority.

On 23 September, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali met in New York with President F. W. de Klerk of South Africa, congratulating him on the "historic" decision of the South African Parliament to establish the Transitional Executive Council and informing him of his intention to strengthen UNOMSA. He also expressed his support for the 16 August agreement to transfer, as soon as possible, the South African enclave at Walvis Bay - the region's only deep-water port - to neighbouring Namibia. The enclave - 6 by 5 miles - forms part of Cape Town province and has been under South African administration since 1922.

The Special Committee, at a two-day consultative meeting (30-31 August, Geneva) with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from North America, Europe and South Africa, heard calls for a more proactive role by the UN, especially its specialized agencies, during and after the transitional period. Disadvantaged South Africans needed urgent redress of inequalities in employment, housing, health-care delivery and education - a legacy of apartheid.

The Security Council on 24 August deplored a recent upsurge of violence and discord in South Africa, particularly in the East Rand, and affirmed that all parties must assist the Government in preventing opponents of democracy from using violence to threaten the country's democratic transition.

In a statement by Council President Madeleine K. Albright of the United States, the key role of the multiparty negotiating process in securing the transition to a democratic, non-racial and united South Africa was stressed.

The proposal for a national peace force to restore and maintain order in the country's volatile areas was noted. Any such force should be genuinely representative of South African society and its major political bodies.

Efforts by leaders of the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party to avoid further violence were welcomed. All South African leaders should work jointly to prevent violence during the election period.

In a 9 August message to the Special Committee, at a special meeting commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Struggle of Women in South Africa, the Secretary-General urged all parties in South Africa to try to overcome remaining differences and reach a workable political settlement as soon as possible.

South Africans should try to build a society based on political tolerance and the widest participation of all political and social groups. A new constitution should guarantee equality and full participation for all South African women.

Assisting refugees

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the South African Government on 6 September signed an agreement allowing UNHCR to exercise its mandate to protect and assist all refugees in South Africa.

An estimated 300,000 Mozambican refugees in South Africa were expected to be among the first to benefit from the basic agreement, an initial step towards their voluntary repatriation.

Since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on 4 September 1991, UNHCR's role in South Africa had been restricted to repatriation. The Memorandum allowed UNHCR to help bring home thousands of South African exiles from neighbouring countries.