Word: botha
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Alan Paton, the outspoken liberal critic of apartheid recently remarked, "I will never give any support to any campaign that will put men out of jobs not even if they promised me that it would bring Chernenko down Or Reagan Or P.W. Botha...
...Sharpeville massacre of 1960 had moved a defensive government to crack down with a vengeance, outlawing black protest movements, arresting black leaders, and so giving rise to a newly militant opposition. Today, after a quarter-century of struggle and despite recent promises of reform by President P.W. Botha, violence still holds sway in the divided land. The killings outside Uitenhage represented the bloodiest single episode since a wave of unrest began sweeping across the country last year. They also triggered more rioting at week's end in nearby townships, where angry mobs killed at least seven blacks they accused...
...brick, and the police had fired in self-defense only after they had been "surrounded and pelted with stones, sticks and other missiles, including petrol bombs." Eyewitnesses, however, maintained that the police had begun shooting without provocation and had summoned a fire engine to hose away the blood. President Botha appointed a judicial commission to investigate the shootings...
Signs that Pretoria might be taking two steps backward for every reformist step forward challenged Washington's belief in the Botha government's commitment to real change. Since 1981 the Reagan Administration has steadfastly pursued a line of "constructive engagement," under which the U.S. refrains from openly criticizing the South African regime and hopes instead, through diplomatic pressure and behind-the-scenes negotiation, to coax it toward easing the strictures of apartheid. While making it clear that U.S. policy was not going to change, Washington officials publicly warned that last week's show of force "cannot help prospects...
...reasons behind the sudden crackdown remain shadowy. Critics charge that the government will use the forthcoming trial to portray the avowedly peaceful Front as a champion of the militant African National Congress and thus justify a purge of all such opponents of apartheid. But Botha's supporters claim that he is trying to defuse "revolutionary elements" before negotiating with black moderates and point out that the fist of short-term law enforcement is by no means incompatible with the open hand of long-term conciliation. Nonetheless, said U.S. Ambassador to Pretoria Herman Nickel, "The plain fact is that images...