EMBARGOED UNTIL 10.00 PM JjAUSTALIA
SPRIME MENISTER
FOR MEDIA 32 JUNE 1986
The Report of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group was
released in London today ( 12 June).
The Group performed its task with great determination and
integrity. I wish to express my personal appreciation of the
role of the Australian member and Co-Chairman of the Group,
Mr Malcolm Fraser, in this process. He and his colleagues
tackled a difficult task with energy, sensitivity and skill.
The Report is a powerful and compelling . ccount pf the daily
agony brought about by the apartheid system in South Africa,
of the conscientious and dedicated attempts of the seven
members of the Group to carry out the Commonwealth's mandate
from Nassau, and of the obduracy and intransigence of the
South African regime.
Tragically, the Group was given no option but to conclude
that this obduracy and intransigence have wrecked the
Commonwealth initiative and that Pretoria's attitude offers
no present prospect of a process of dialogue leading to the
establishment of a non-racial and representative Government
in South Africa.
At the very moment the Group's Report is being released, the
monstrous roll-call of violence and destruction in South
Africa continues to mount. The latest manifestation is the
violence of vigilantes, who, with the connivance of the South
African security forces, are mounting brutal attacks on black
communities around Cape Town.
On top of this, there are tonight ominous reports of a
crackdown on dissent in advance of the commemoration of the
Anniversary of the deaths at Soweto on 16 June.
In this deteriorating situation, Commonwealth leaders will be
meeting in London from 3-5 Atugust to consider what further
measures we can adopt to bring the South African Government
to its senses.
Before this meeting, Cabinet will again be considering Australia's
relations with South Africa with the aim of considering concrete
steps that we can take. " Unless there is dramatic change in
the two months remaining before Heads of GoVxelrrIent meet, I
shall be taking to London the view that strong further measure::,
on a Commonwealth-wide basis, should be applied.
NIMWA
I e
2.
My conviction that this is the path which we must take is
strengthened by the unanimous conclusion of the seven members
of the EPG, drawn from across the breadth of the
Commonwealth, that concerted action of an effective kind may
offer the last opportunity to avert an appalling catastrophe
in South Africa. 0