"Deeds of terror" by those fighting apartheid created a hostile atmosphere that may have caused government abuses during that era, former military chief Gen. Magnus Malan says.

Malan apologized for any crimes by security forces but said Wednesday he himself did nothing outside the law of that era and said he would not seek amnesty before the new regime's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.The 17-member panel is investigating abuses by all sides during more than three decades of white-minority rule that ended with the first all-race elections three years ago.

With the aim of promoting reconciliation, the commission can grant amnesty to people who confess their crimes. There is a Saturday deadline for amnesty applications.

In a voluntary appearance before the commission, Malan said that he had authorized raids on anti-government guerrillas based outside the country but that he had never ordered any political assassinations.

"Where members of the South African Defense Force acted unlawfully during the period of conflict, I wish to offer my unqualified apologies," Malan said.

Malan, reading from an 85-page statement, urged the commission to consider the con-text of the era, including the perceived threat of Marxism and attempts by the opposition African National Congress to make the country ungovernable.

"The sound judgment of the South African Defense Force sometimes suffered in the heat of battle owing to the abhorrence generated by the deeds of terror committed by the liberation movements," Malan said.

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Malan, 67, headed the army in 1973-76, was chief of the defense force in 1976-80 and joined the government as defense minister in 1980-91.

There was tight security around the panel's building in Cape Town as Malan spoke for about two hours in a small conference room packed with about 50 people.

Malan admitted the military's use of "unconventional methods," including "numerous" bloody cross-border raids, disinformation campaigns against opponents and support for anti-Marxist rebel groups like Angola's UNITA and Mozambique's RENAMO.

He also said he approved setting up in the mid-1980s the Civil Cooperation Bureau, a military agency designed to infiltrate and disrupt opposition groups.

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