News Digest
By the
Associated Press
fdited by Victoria Ayotte
South African government promises reform
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
— The National Party government
promised reform Thursday after suf
fering heavy losses in an election
accompanied by protests and politi
cal violence in which 25 people were
reported killed.
If the death toll is confirmed, it
would be the highest in a 24-hour
period since 69 blacks were shot to
death during a peaceful protest in
Sharpevillc township in 1960.
In Wednesday’s white parliamen
tary election, the Nationalists got less
than 50 percent of the vote for the first
time since 1953. They lost nearly a
quarter of their seals to an anti-apart
he id party and to a far-right group that
favors strict racial segregation.
Police used shotguns, tear gas and
whips on anti-election protesters in
black and mixed-race townships out
side Cape Town.
Essa Moosa and Associates, a
prominent Cape Town law firm, said
25 people were killed Wednesday
night and early Thursday in seven
townships on the sprawling Cape
Flats. Activists blamed most of the
killings on police.
Desmond Tutu, the black Angli
can archbishop, said 23 people were
killed and “we expect the numbers of
the dead to grow.” The newspaper
Grassroots said it had confirmed 15
of the bodies were in a mortuary.
South African Press Association,
an independent news agency, said the
Cape Flats resembled ‘‘a war zone ..
. as residents danced around dozens
of burning barricades blocking
streets in the area and police fired
repeatedly at groups of youths.”
Violence resumed Thursday after
noon when police with shotguns
opened fire on dancing and chanting
teen-agers in the mixed-race Laven
der Hill township, said a journalist at
the scene. Four people were report
edly killed in the township the night
before.
The Rev. Allan Boesak, a promi
nent activist, said the presidency of
F.W. de Klerk “now sits in a pool of
blood.”
“I don’t know how people can
become vaguely excited about these
elections when... the man with a new
vision has allowed this kind of mas
sacre to take place,” Boesak said.
The outlawed African National
Congress, the main black group fight
ing white rule, said from Harare,
Zimbabwe: “The elections ... were
a farce and irrelevant to the ANC and
the oppressed majority of South Af
nca.
De Klerk described the election
result as “a clear mandate” for his
party’s gradual political reforms,
which envision bringing blacks into
the national government on a limited
basis within five years.
“Seventy percent of the whites
voted for parties favoring renewal
and reform ... and granting political
rights,” he said, linking the National
Party with the liberal-minded Demo
crats.
He now is acting president. An
electoral college is expected to give
him a full five-year term next week.
De Klerk said emphasis must be
“on intensive dialogue, and hope
fully from that must flow real nego
tiations” with blacks.
The Mass Democratic Movement,
which organized a nationwide defi
ance campaign in the past several
weeks, said about 3 million people
joined a general strike Wednesday. It
claimed “more people participated
in our protest action against the racist
elections than voted.”
Aoun asks for U.S. help
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Gen. Michel
Aoun said Thursday that U.S. foreign
policy is “biased and shortsighted,”
then asked American help in what the
Christian leader calls the war of lib
eration against Syrian troops in Leba
non.
Aoun said the U.S. withdrawal of
its last diplomats Wednesday was
based on “rumors, false suppositions
and unconvincing reasons.”
He likened the 6-month-old battle
between his 20,000Christian soldiers
and a Moslem alliance led by the
40,(XX) Syrians to what Americans’
“forefathers did . .. 200 years ago”
in the Revolutionary War.
I
Syrians and Christians exchanged
artillery fire for five hours before
dawn Thursday and police reported
two dead and seven wounded.
The U.S.-trained general said he
would welcome the return of Ambas
sador John McCarthy and other
American diplomats to Lebanon only
if Washington recognized his Chris
tian Cabinet as the legitimate govern
ment.
His government competes for
power with a Moslem Cabinet led by
acting Premier Salim Hoss. Mc
Carthy, who had been in Lebanon
since the rival regimes were created a
year ago, avoided taking sides by not
presenting his credentials to either.
Spire says he won't run again
LINCOLN - Attorney General
Robert Spire announced Thursday
he will not seek re-election.
In explaining his decision to
leave office. Spire said, “rotation
in elective office is good. The
people are best served by frequent
injection of fresh blood into public
positions.”
He said he would best address
critical justice issues such as drug
abuse and prisoner rehabilitation
in the remainder of his term if he
isn't also campaigning.
In a brief interview before his
news conference. Spire, a Repub
lican, said he hasn’t decided his
future plans.
“It has been a great pleasure
and a great honor to serve the
people of Nebraska. The opportu
nity to serve as attorney general
has presented me with many re
warding challenges and with the
opportunity as well to work with
some really outstanding, really
wonderful people.” he said.
Don Stenberg is a candidate for
the GOP nomination. Lancaster
County Attorney Mike Heavican
also has indicated that he soon will
be in the race.
Andy Manhai tDally Nabraskan
Navy: Hartwig ‘most likely’ caused blast
WASHINGTON — The Navy said
Thursday that gunner’s mate Clayton
Hartwig “most likely” caused the
explosion that killed 47 sailors
aboard the USS Iowa by shoving a
detonator between gunpowder bags
in one of the battleship’s huge guns.
The formal report on the explo
sion. the worst naval disaster since
the Vietnam War, said the exact
cause cannot be pinpointed since the
sailors close enough to sec what was
going on, including Hartwig, were all
killed in the fiery blast.
However, Rear Adm. Richard
Milligan, presenting the official con
clusions at a Pentagon briefing,
pointed out that most evidence
“pointed to Hartwig, whose job
would have put him closest to the
gun.”
He cited an FBI psychological
profile of Hartwig “with the opinion
that he took his own life and hoped it
looked like an accident.”
Milligan said Hartwig was a
“loner” and a man with “low self
esteem” who had a series of male
“principal friends” throughout his
life. But the admiral and other mili
tary briefers said “there is no sub
stantive proof” that Hartwig was
homosexual ‘ ‘and there is no mention
of that in the report.”
After more than four months of
investigation, the Navy concluded,
“The explosion was most probably
caused by an intentional act. The
weight of evidence indicates that
some type of detonation device was
deliberately placed between the
powder bags being rammed into the
breech of the center gun.”
As evidence, the investigators
cited “foreign material” found in the
gun barrel.
“The most likely person with the
access, knowledge and possible mo
tivation to accomplish this act has
been identified as Gunner’s Mate 2nd
Class clayton M. Hartwig, U.S.
Navy, the center gun captain in turret
H at the time of the explosion," the
Navy said.
Sunday After 4 p.m.
The Fair Becomes A
Real FREE-FOR-ALL
Medellin wizard’ comes to trial
ATLANTA - The reputed finan
cial wizard of the Medellin cocaine
cartel arrived under guard at a liny,
oul-of-way airport before sunrise
Thursday, the first of Colombia’s
“cxtraditables” brought to the
United States for trial.
The extradition of Eduardo Marti
nez Romero, an alleged money-laun
dercr for the drug cartel that is be
lieved to supply 80 percent of Amer
ica’s cocaine, came days after Presi
dent George Bush declared war on
Latin America’s cocaine barons.
Martinez, 36, was put on a Drug
Enforcement Administration plane in
Bogota on Wednesday night. He ar
rived at 4 a.m. outside Atlanta at
Charlie Brown Airport, an airfield
used mostly by private planes, and
was whisked to court by helicopter.
Hours later, after the government
obtained an interpreter for him, he
appeared before U.S. Magistrate Joel
M. Feldman and told him he speaks
only Spanish and does not fully
comprehend the money-laundering
charges against him.
Feldman postponed arraignment
until Monday and ordered Martinez
held without bail at an undisclosed
site. Defense attorney Ed Garland
said even he had not been told where
Martinez was being held.
The Medellin cartel’s reputed
money man is on the United States’
list of so-called “extraditables,”
Colombia’s most important drug
kingpins.
Don't miss out on the greatest
entertainment value of the summer.
This Sunday, September 10, after
4 p m., admission to the Nebraska
State Fair is free (excluding park
ing). Four o’clock also marks the
start of Last Blast on the midway
where just $8 buys you unlimited
rides on Murphy ’s Blue Grass
Carnival until closing. Runza Fun:
Present Runza french fry or onion
ring sacks and save one coupon
per nde on the midway. Offer good
daily; limit one coupon discount
per ride.
We’re Mere Fair
Huui Ever.
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