Foreign envoys call off S. Africa peace mission

JOHANNESBURG (Reuter): Foreign mediators called off their peace mission to South Africa yesterday, after a dispute among the country's political leaders over the April 26-28 date of its first all-race elections.

"The fact that it has failed fills me with sadness," former British foreign secretary Lord Carrington told reporters in Johannesburg after the collapse of his mission with former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger.

African National Congress General-Secretary Cyril Ramaphosa expressed regret and blamed the rival Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party, which is boycotting the elections and demanding virtual self-rule in the KwaZulu-Natal Zulu heartland.

"We are rather saddened that the initiative has failed to get off the ground," he told a news conference.

The ANC, tipped to win the elections, the government and Inkatha were divided on the terms of reference for the mediation mission. Inkatha refused to agree mediation terms specifying there could be no compromise on the poll dates.

Lord Carrington said he would be leaving immediately.

Asked if anyone was to blame, he said: "The differences between the parties reflected many years of negotiation. There have been efforts to bridge their differences. This is not a time to blame anyone. It is a question of how they move forward."

Kissinger and Lord Carrington, who headed a seven-member team of would-be international mediators, said their mission had been unable to get off the ground because of the differences among South Africa's main political players on its terms of reference.

"I thought that was an absolutely necessary prerequisite for coming here," Lord Carrington said.

Asked whether he believed the election date scuttled the process, Kissinger said:

"Our group was unanimous that at no stage and under no circumstances would we involve ourselves with the question of the election date. That date is for South Africans themselves to decide...we leave it to the politicians."

Despite the fact that its mission had descended into farce, none of the mediators publicly expressed annoyance at the failure of the parties to agree terms of reference.

Kissinger and Carrington said they would leave South Africa wishing its people only the best for a non-racial future.