The government and the African National Congress sat down with black and white opponents Monday for talks focusing on proposals to grant some of their demands for autonomy.
The negotiations were the first attended by all three. They were just beginning when the ANC and the white, pro-apartheid Afrikaner Volksfront announced in Pretoria they were closer to resolving their differences.A statement said the two sides would sign an agreement Tuesday acknowledging the need to address the demand of right-wing whites for their own homeland. Details of the agreement were to be released Tuesday.
The developments indicated a deal was in the works that could end the opposition of pro-apartheid white parties and anti-ANC black groups to the peace process.
The three-way summit seeks to avert the civil war threatened by anti-ANC blacks and pro-apartheid whites who say they won't recognize the nation's first multiracial elections, set for April 27.
Coming two days before parliament passes a constitution for post-apartheid South Africa, the talks may be the last opportunity for bringing around the Freedom Alliance, a coalition of blacks and whites linked only by their opposition to Nelson Mandela's ANC.
The alliance wants constitutional guarantees of autonomy. The right-wing groups want a separate white homeland. The main black Alliance group - the Inkatha Freedom Party - wants autonomy for the province where its mainly Zulu followers are concentrated.
The ANC, the expected winner of the national election and the nation's largest black group, has opposed alliance demands, and several previous attempts to strike deals have failed.
But with the new constitution due to be approved Wednesday, and with the election looming, the holdout parties face total isolation unless they relax their stance.
The ANC and government warned Saturday that time was running out for the alliance.