APARTHEIDIN CRISIS
such incidents in November 1985, but by then South Africa had become a
major focus of public attention.
Margaret Thatcher tried hard to prevent Britain and the Common-
wealth countries from taking joint measures against apartheid. Early in
1986, however, seven senior Commonwealth politicians, led by Malcolm
Fraser, a former prime minister ofAustralia, and Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo,
a former head of the Nigerian government, visited South Africa. The other
members were from Barbados, Britain, Canada, India, and Tanzania. A
Commonwealth conference had instructed them "to promote ...
a politi-
cal dialogue airned at replacing apartheid by popular government." After
meeting a wide range of South Africans, from President Botha to Nelson
Mandela, on March 13 they made a proposal to the South African govern-
ment. The government should remove the military from the townships,
provide for freedom of assembly and discussion, suspend detention with-
out trial, release Mandela and other political prisoners and detainees,
unban the ANC and the PAC, and permit normal political activity; for its
part, the ANC should enter into negotiations with the government and
suspend violence, which Mandela had agreed to do. On May 19, 1986, the