housed in squalid hostels, started a series of brutal attacks on township
residents, killing many and destroying their homes. South African police
planned and participated in some of those attacks. Also, gangs of uniden-
tified people murdered passengers on trains commuting to and from
Soweto. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission later found that mem-
bers of the South African army's special forces had collaborated with IFP
people in planning those massacres.I!
The odds against a peaceful settlement in South Africa were increased
by confusion within the ANC, which had enormous problems. The ANC
members-e-yoo.ooo
according to Mandela-were
an amalgamation
of
people who agreed in hating apartheid but who had very different experi-
ences. Some, like Mandela, had been in prison for years. Others had been
in exile-many
had trained for guerrilla warfare in the former Soviet
Union, eastern Europe, and tropical Africa. Most had remained inside
South Africa and had been active in the United Democratic Front (UDF)
and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Opinions dif-
fered sharply between those who favored negotiations with the govern-
ment and those who feared that negotiations would result in a sell-out of