South Africa rejoins the world community; Nelson Mandela elected president.

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Today, we have been privileged to witness a turning-point in the history of a nation. Today, South Africa regains its rightful place in Africa, in the United Nations and in the family of nations", Secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali said in congratulating Nelson Mandela on his inauguration as State President of the Republic of South Africa on 10 May. The Pretoria ceremony followed South Africa's first non-racial and democratic elections, held from 26 to 29 April, which resulted in victories for former political prisoner Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC).

The UN Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA)--the largest electoral observer mission yet mounted by the UN--had deployed 2,527 personnel throughout the country to observe the elections, which were declared sufficiently free and fair by Judge Johan Kriegler, Chairman of the independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Voter turnout was estimated at 86 per cent of the 2 3 million eligible voters. Approximately 300,000 South Africans living abroad voted in the country of their residence. The Electoral Assistance Unit of the UN provided observers for 120 polling stations in 57 countries.

The new, six-colour flag of South Africa--with its horizontal bands of black, gold, green, white, blue and red--was unfurled for the first time at UN Headquarters on 27 April, in a ceremony attended by the country's Permanent Representative to the UN and representatives of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC).

With the conclusion of the elections and the hoisting of the new flag at midnight on 27 April, South Africa's first non-racial and democratic constitution entered into force, ending 46 years of apartheid--the system of institutionalized racial segregation which favoured the white minority over the non-white majority.

Ibrahim A. Gambari of Nigeria, Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, extended to all South Africans and their political leaders heartfelt congratulations and warmest wishes for "the peaceful and stable development of a new South Africa".

The UN had spearheaded the international campaign against apartheid, initiating and supporting programmes aimed at alleviating the suffering of its victims. It had also provided a forum for the representatives of South African organizations, such as the ANC, to advance the anti-apartheid campaign.

During May and June, South Africa began to rejoin the UN bodies from which it had been barred for its racial policies. In a historic meeting on 23 June, South Africa took its place once again in the General Assembly to a round of applause, when the Assembly, in adopting resolution 48/13 C, accepted--after refusing for 24 years--the credentials of the new Government's delegation. Also, by adopting resolutions 48/2 5 8 A and B, the Assembly terminated the mandate of the Special Committee and discontinued the UN Trust Fund for South Africa, since their mandates had been fulfilled.

Alfred Nzo, South Africa's Minister for Foreign Affairs, said his country's "long night of diplomatic isolation" had finally come to an end.

On 2 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) restored South Africa's full membership with immediate effect. South Africa had lost its voting privileges as a result of a resolution adopted by the seventeenth World Health Assembly in 1964, which considered that "apartheid officially raised to the status of a political system by a Government represents an exceptional circumstance of failure to adhere to the humanitarian principles governing the WHO".

On 27 May, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) announced that it would terminate its 30-year campaign against apartheid and aid the social and economic recovery of the new democracy. In its June session...

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