President F.W. de Klerk on Thursday urged the ANC to resume talks with the government, saying it was the only way to solve the nation's problems.
It was de Klerk's second appeal in a week to the African National Congress, which halted negotiations last month to protest the massacre of at least 42 blacks in the Boipatong township south of Johannesburg."We are talking about the future of the youth of South Africa," de Klerk told reporters. "I really hope that the reaction of the ANC . . . will show great restraint and responsibility because we are living in serious times."
The country is facing its worst political crisis since de Klerk legalized the ANC in February 1990 and began negotiating an end to apartheid.
Without the ANC's presence at negotiations, there is virtually no hope of reaching agreement on a new constitution to end white-minority rule and give the black majority voting rights.
"In the final analysis, we will have to return to the negotiation table and compromise and thrash out a new constitutional system," de Klerk said.
The ANC, the main black opposition group, blames de Klerk's government for political violence that has killed about 12,000 blacks since 1984.