Prospects for non-racial democracy 'encouraging' despite difficulties.

Despite continuing difficulties, the prospects for the establishment of a non-racial democracy in South Africa were "most encouraging", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said on 16 June.

In a statement read on his behalf by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs James O. C. Jonah at a meeting of the Special Committee against Apartheid, he pointed out that a provisional agreement had been reached on a date - 27 April 1994 - for the first nonracial multiparty elections. A multiracial transitional executive council was expected to be put in place within weeks. He urged all parties to facilitate the long-awaited establishment of a broad-based government in South Africa.

The Committee meeting was held to observe the International Day of Solidarity with the Struggling People of South Africa.

The Secretary-General stressed that the immediate task of ending the widespread violence and disorder required a strong determination by all parties to work for peace.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali cited the Organization's extensive involvement in South Africa, including the deployment of the UN Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA). Those measures had had a salutary effect on the political situation in the country and had helped to promote and advance the peace process.

Security Council President Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo of Spain said the negative impact of increasing violence on the negotiation process underscored the need to intensify that process.

Special Committee Chairman Ibrahim A. Gambari of Nigeria said the Committee supported political negotiations as the only peaceful means of reaching a settlement acceptable to the majority of citizens, while also safeguarding the rights of minority groups.

|Tragic assassination'

The assassination on 10 April in Johannesburg of Chris Hani, a National Executive Committee member of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC) and Secretary-General of the South African Communist Party, underscored the urgent need to end violence in the country and to push ahead with negotiations for a united, non-racial and democratic South Africa, the Security Council said on 12 April. On behalf of members, Council President Jamsheed K. A. Marker of Pakistan said those negotiations "must not be held hostage by the perpetrator of violence".

Mr. Hani, he said, actively supported those negotiations and only the previous week had called for an end to violence so that the negotiations could proceed in a climate of peace and stability.

On 13 April, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali, concerned at a possible escalation of violence, appealed to all parties not to allow the assassination to derail the multiparty constitutional negotiations.

Other developments

On 10 May the Secretary-General reported that with Pretoria's agreement, the more than 100 UN observers in South Africa were cooperating with the local police to contain violence.

The Special Committee on 25 May expressed deep dismay at the detention by South African police of leaders of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC).

An International Conference on Southern Africa, held in London on 14 and 15 June, called for support and encouragement to those "striving for the democratic transformation of South Africa". In a declaration, the Conference said the international community must spare no effort in ensuring that South Africans, at the earliest, could exercise their democratic rights in the country's first ever one-person, one-vote elections.

On 27 June, the Secretary-General expressed outrage at "the brazen display of force and intimidation by members of the right-wing Afrikaner National Front (ANF) against delegates engaged in multiparty negotiations in Johannesburg to facilitate South Africa's transition to a nonracial, democratic and united country"

ANC National Chairman Oliver Tambo, who died on 24 April, was lauded by the Secretary-General for championing the struggle against apartheid.