Release of Mandela a "turning point" in South African history.

Mr. Mandela's freedom, however, would remain incomplete until the majority of the South African people could enjoy equality, dignity and justice, the Committee stated. It urged prompt implementation of all measures required to establish a climate conducive to negotiations.

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar said the freeing of Mr. Mandela, together with other measures announced by South Africa, market "a turning point in the process for the peaceful settlement of the South African situation".

South African President F.W. de Klerk's "positive move", he said, should be followed without delay by lifting the state of emergency and releasing all other political prisoners.

Mr. Perez de Cuellar hoped that the momentum for peace created by recent South African initiatives would accclerate the dismantling of the apartheid system and its replacement by a non-racial democracy, in which all the citizens of South Africa, regardless of race or colour, will be able to participate fully, a system which would ensure justice and equality for all". He expressed confidence that Mr. Mandela would play an important role in advancing such a democratic process. At a special 16 February meeting of the Special Committee against Apartheid marking Mr. Mandela's release, the Secretary-General said that event was "not an end in itself, but a milestone in the democratic process which must lead to the liberation of the people of South Africa from the system of apartheid'. It was now possible that the people of South Africa, working together, could establish a non-racial democracy with equal rights for all. General Assembly President joseph N. Garba of Nigeria called Mr. Mandela's release "most propitious and of immense significance" towards realizing the desired objective of peacefully attaining a non-racial and democratic South Africa. He warned, however, that it would be ill-advised and counter-productive" for any UN Member State to lift sanctions against South Africa now.

That should be considered only after the state of emergency had been fully lifted, all remaining political prisoners released, and meaningful negotiation commenced among all people of South Africa in order to end the apartherid system, he said.

Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria, in his first statement as the new Chairman of the Special Committee, said that Mr. Mandela personified "the yearnings of the people of South Africa for freedom, equality and justice". He stressed that when Mr. Mandela had come...