Chained Together: Mandela, de Klerk, and the Struggle to Remake South Africa.

• Author: Walsh, Ryan

Almost four years ago, Nelson Mandela stepped through the gates of Victor Vorster Prison for the first time in 30 years. It was the grand finale of an incredible turn of events which started with President F.W. de Klerk's announcement on February 2, 1990 that the time had come to include blacks in the government of South Africa. Much like the recent Israeli-PLO accords, the notion of two old enemies agreeing to negotiate an end to one of the world's longest-running conflicts shocked the world.

But now in 1993, Mandela and de Klerk - the Nobel Peace Prize notwithstanding - are still far from reaching a settlement. Instead of initiating a period of peace in South Africa, the negotiations have plunged the country into the bloodiest period of political violence in its troubled history.

David Ottaway, a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, arrived in South Africa in 1989, just before de Klerk's historic speech. His latest book is a fascinating first-hand account of the initial euphoria over Mandela's release and the subsequent frustration of trying to turn a symbolic agreement into a concrete political settlement. It's a process that could no doubt be repeated in the Middle East, and the lesson of South Africa is that the nitty gritty details of implementation are just as important as the emotional moments of breakthrough.

During his four years in South Africa, Ottaway saw much to make him pessimistic. Mandela's African National Congress, an umbrella organization much like the PLO, contains several smaller groups, all of which are vying for power. It is also struggling to transform itself from a guerilla movement into a political party. De Klerk did not help matters by shifting his position on several issues during the negotiations. Ottaway calls him "the consummate Politician," and the president's tendency to waver soured Mandela on de Klerk and his National Party (NP).

As if the ANC-NP relations were not strained enough, radicals on both sides have tried to derail the talks altogether. From the Pan-African Congress on the left to the Afrikaner Resistance Movement on the right, these groups have increased the tension through political demonstrations and terrorism. Nathan Buthelezi's Inkatha party, in its battles with the ANC for supremacy in the townships, has fostered the worst of the violence.

But while these factors have certainly hindered the negotiations, the root of the problem probably lies within the true goals of the NP...