World IN BRIEF : SOUTH AFRICA : Conservatives Spurn Elections Proposal

Conservative South African blacks and whites spurned the latest proposal for enticing them into the political process and into dropping a boycott that threatens to disrupt democratic, multiracial elections in April. The rejection from the Freedom Alliance came the same day as black and white leaders backing the elections met to adopt the overture by the African National Congress and the white-led government to the conservatives as amendments to a draft constitution. The negotiators also gave all parties--including alliance members--that missed a Feb. 12 deadline for registering for the elections until March 4 to do so. Rowan Cronje, chairman of the Freedom Alliance, said that proposed provincial powers were too limited and subject to being overridden by the central government.