Amnesty International told the U.N. Human Rights Commission at Geneva Friday that continued killings and torture in South Africa show an "official policy of bias" against the African National Congress and its allies.
The London-based human-rights group said its concerns focused on the high level of political violence in 1991, particularly in township communities in the Johannesburg area, Natal and Cape Town.Amnesty said South Africa had ended 1991 on a hopeful note, with commitments to institute non-racial democratic constitutional principles and political equality and to dismantle apartheid and improve human rights.
"In dramatic contrast to these more hopeful developments are the widespread reports of extrajudicial executions, attempted assassinations, torture and deaths in custody - and the palpably high level of fear among township residents in the face of this violence and an apparently complicitous or indifferent police force," Amnesty said.
The Amnesty statement said the chief victims of the violence have been members and supporters the ANC and allied groups.
"The evidence points to a continuing official policy of bias against the ANC and allied organizations, which has resulted in killings and other human-rights violations," Amnesty said.
Amnesty said it had "overwhelming evidence" that a policy of security-force bias against the ANC and in favor of the Inkatha Freedom Party, or IFP, resulted in killings and other human-rights violations.
"In Amnesty International's view, not only have the police failed in many instances to prevent attacks and to conduct proper investigations into incidents of violence, but police and military personnel have also been directly responsible by colluding with opponents of the ANC, in particular with the Inkatha Freedom Party in attacks on ANC-supporting communities and individuals," the statement said.