Word: niels
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Once back in prison, Mandela bombarded Coetsee with letters urging contacts between the two sides, which had never officially talked to each other. A secret committee was set up including Coetsee, Mandela and Niel Barnard, the head of South Africa's intelligence service. Mandela pressed for a meeting with South Africa's President, P.W. Botha, known as the Great Crocodile for his blustery temper. An off-the-record courtesy call was finally arranged in 1989. So anxious was Barnard, the intelligence chief, about the meeting that seconds before the two men were to shake hands, he knelt down...