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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1992)
lNJ OTA7 C D"1 O' ^ Cf* Associated Press I. H FF ^ lllVul Edited by Roger Price Mandela cheers two-thirds vote against aparthied in South Africa JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Nelson Mandela and other blacks welcomed the stunning endorsement by whites for sharing power, but they said Wednesday that South Africa has a long way to go to become a democratic nation. Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, the biggest black group, said apartheid is “very much alive” despite the overwhelming vote in a whites-only referendum Tuesday to support political reforms. Whites voted 68.7 percent to 31.3 percent to forge ahead with talks that would end white rule and give South Africa’s 30 million-member black majority voting rights for the first time. Nearly 86 of every 100 eligible voters turned out. The margin of support for Presi dent F.W. de Klerk’s reforms was much higher than expected and was a jolt to pro-apartheid white conserva tives. De Klerk won in 14 of the 15 electoral districts. The vote was the most solid step taken toward ending apartheid in South Africa, a nation branded for decades as an intractable stronghold of ra cism. Major issues remain to be re solved between de Klerk and black leaders, and there is not likely to be any swift transfer of power. “Today, we have closed the book on apartheid,” said de Klerk, who celebrated his 56th birthday Wednes day. “Today, in a certain sense of the word, is the real birthday of the real, new, South African nation.” The election gave de Klerk the decisive mandate he needs to con tinue negotiations with the African National Congress and other black groups on writing a new constitution. Mandela, who with de Klerk has been the central figure in those talks, said the referendum must be the | “absolute last” whites-only vote. “Apartheid is still very much alive. | I still cannot vote in my own coun- | try,” Mandela told reporters. A radical black group, the Pan | Africanist Congress, denounced the § vote. “The all-white referendum is an obscenity and an insult to the dispos sessed masses of our country,” it said. Andries Treumichl, leader of the r pro-apartheid Conservative Party, conceded defeat. But he said de Klerk 1 “will be the victim of his own re- , form.” ‘ e “Mr.de Klerk has won his referen- <j dum, just like Gorbachev won his. Gorbachev is today out of power... a and Mr. de Klerk is negotiating his t own government out of power,” Treur- e South Africa apartheid referendum "Do you support continuation of the reform process which the state president began on Feb, 2, 1990, and which is aimed at a new constitution through negotiation?” South African white voters said: icht said. The nation faces an uncertain fu iire. Right-wing groups say they will ight rather than accept a black gov mment, although their credibility was amaged by the referendum result. The government and ANC are far pan on many key issues in thenego lations, and there are sharp differ nces among black groups. U.S. may bomb Iraq Officials create a plan for raids to attack facilities WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has drawn up plans for a bombing strike that could be carried out against Iraqi weapons facilities if Saddam Hussein keeps blocking U.N. destruction of his arsenals, U.S. officials say. The plans also call for possible seizure of Iraq’s bank assets in the United Stales and in other allied countries, expansion of the ban on Iraqi helicopter flights in northern Iraq, and an increase of U.N. in spections in Iraq to include moni toring human rights violations. Money from the seized assets could be used to keep the finan cially pressed U.N. inspection and destruction team going. The contingency plans are part of a broader strategy — likely to be announced within weeks— to fur ther erode the Iraqi president’s standing in his beleaguered coun try, said the officials. They com mented only on condition of ano nymity. A decision to bomb would de pend in part on the outcome of a trip by a U.N. team to Iraq this Saturday to destroy equipment for building Scud missiles. Iraq pre vented the team from carrying out its mission last month, prompting the Security Council to warn that further defiance would result in serious consequences. “This next inspection could be the trigger,” said one official. By agreement with U.N. allies, any U.S. action “would be a lim ited, specific strike,” said another official who is familiar with the administration’s thinking. Iraq would be given notice of the raid to avoid harm to civilians, he added. Helmsley sent to prison NEW YORK — Hotel queen Leona Helmsley, convicted of evading $ 1.7 million in taxes, lost her bid to stay out of prison and was ordered Wednes day to begin serving her four-year sentence on April 15. The 71-year-old wife of billion aire Harry Helmsley was dressed in black for her resentencing. She begged for mercy from U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa, main taining that separating her from her sickly, 83-year-old husband would kill them both. “He has nobody in the world,” she sobbed. “All he’s got is me.” She satstoically, shaking her head, as the judge refused to eliminate or reduce the prison term imposed after her 1989 conviction. She almost collapsed as she left the Manhattan federal court building by a side door. An aide caught her and helped her into a waiting limousine. Throughout the hearing, the judge stressed that Mrs. Helmsley was not being treated more favorably because of her wealth. THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT TEVA SANDALS TEVA is the authentic sport sandal, approximated but never duplicated. Swim, climb, jump or run-TEVA sandals are amphibious, durable and hold fast to your feet in raging waters, knee-deep mud and at perilous heights. This Spring Break ...Don't forget to pack your TEVA's! Get them at: J ■l...1 - . .4 Bomb kills 12 in Argentina Islamic group claims explosion at Israeli embassy BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — An Islamic fundamentalist group in Beirut claimed re sponsibility Wednesday for the Israeli Em bassy bombing that killed 12 people, injured more than 250 and reduced the building to chunks of concrete and twisted metal. The death toll seemed likely to rise. Rescu ers who worked slowly all night with picks and shovels, eventually switched to cranes and front-end loaders as the possibility of finding survivors faded. An embassy spokeswoman said five Israelis were missing and believed dead in the rubble. Tuesday’s explosion at the French-style embassy near the city’s central business dis trict was caused by a car bomb containing 220 pounds of explosives, said Interior Minister Jose Luis Manzano. The blast instantly collapsed the four-story structure into a pile of concrete, metal pipes, wood beams, brick dust, broken glass and bodies. Heavily damaged buildings nearby may have to be knocked down rather than repaired. In Beirut, the pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim group Islamic Jihad said an Argentine convert to Islam carried out the attack to avenge the Feb. 16 killing of a Shiite leader and his family in an Israeli air attack in Lebanon. It identified the man as Abu Yasser and said he died in the attack. “We hereby declare with all pride that the operation ... is one of our continuous strikes against the criminal Israeli enemy in an open ended war which will not cease until Israel is wiped out of existence,” a communique said. Drug helps cystic fibrosis patients Dwaiuix — c,ysuc norosis paueni ian Ferguson says he usually would become winded running up a flight of stairs. But after receiving a genetically engineered protein, he could bound up three flights without losing his breath. Ferguson, a 27-year-old architect from Rockville, Md., was one of 16 people who tested the new medicine researchers say is the first drug to effectively break up the infected, lung-clogging mucus that is a major hazard of cystic fibrosis. About 50,000 Americans have the inherited illness, which is often fatal by age 30. Until now, it has been treated mostly by giving antibiotics to prevent infections and pounding on patients chests to loosen mucus buildup. The medicine, deoxyribonuclease, or DNase, is a copy of a natural human protein and ad ministered in a nasal spray. Researchers from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bcthesda, Md., conducted the first test of the medicine’s effectiveness. They reported their findings in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. “It’s not a cure, but there is no question it works,’’ said Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, who di rected the study.