Zulu

To some people, the South African government of F. W. de Klerk appears on the verge of cutting a deal with the black majority as represented by the African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela. Many hope that it is true, and almost all find Mr. Mandela indispensable to the process because of his prestige in and out of South Africa. But two tragic and violent situations threaten to undercut Mr. Mandela or destroy any bonds of trust between him and the government.One is the violence between Zulu supporters of the Inkatha organization and Xhosa supporters of ANC, which has taken nearly 800 lives since Aug. 12. Mr. Mandela and the ANC leadership denounce the security operation to quell the violence, "Operation Iron Fist," as brutal and partisan on the side of the Zulu-Inkatha side.

The Gulf war has introduced Americans to a whole new language, incorporating technical military terms, GI slang and Arab words. Here is a glossary, drawn from wire services, from attrite to zulu:ATTRITE (a-trit) -- lose troops by attrition or enemy action: e.g. "[Saddam Hussein's] being attrited while he's doing all this waiting" -- Army Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Kelly.AWAC (a-wac) -- Airborne Warning And Control system, in which a jet monitors air space with radar and guides fighters and bombers to their targets.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Reacting to the growing violence threatening South Africa's first multiracial elections, President F. W. de Klerk announced a state of emergency and ordered the army into the riotous KwaZulu-Natal region yesterday.A government spokesman, Richard Carter, said the deployment had begun last night.The deployment is designed to ensure that people in the region will be able to vote despite the resistance of the area's primary political figure, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The government and th African National Congress said yesterday they will resume constitutional negotiations next week as the first step toward getting full-scale talks going again among all of South Africa's political groups.The talks between delegations headed by ANC President Nelson Mandela and President F. W. de Klerk are scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, with a second round in the first week of January.The delegations plan to talk about most of the major unresolved issues, including ending violence and drafting a democratic constitution to replace apartheid.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Gunmen in the polarized Zulu province of Natal surrounded sleeping supporters of the African National Congress early yesterday and killed 15 in what ANC leaders feared was the first big blow of a violent anti-election campaign.Zibuse Mlaba, a Zulu chief who is also an ANC leader in the area, said the victims, most of them teen-agers, had put up posters in the nearby town of Creighton on Friday and were preparing for a voter education program yesterday.Police said the group had been shot and stabbed just after midnight as they slept in an abandoned house in the village of Mahlele, in southern Natal.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- They came by trains that had traveled all through the night, by buses that yesterday had left black townships before dawn, finally to reach the infield of a suburban horse racing track to celebrate Mass in a mixture of languages and traditions with Pope John Paul II.After drums pounded out an African rhythm and choirs sang in Zulu, the pope offered a message of peace as he celebrated the public Mass and later offered a message...

JOHANNESBURG -- Nelson Mandela and Mangosuthu Buthelezi, South Africa's most important black political leaders, meet today in a long-awaited summit aimed at easing a bitter rivalry that has cost thousands of lives.The one-day meeting in the coastal city of Durban will be the first between the two men in nearly 30 years. It has been widely hailed as an overdue gesture that could help cool the fires raging in the country's black townships.More than 5,000 blacks have died since 1986 in factional fighting between supporters of Mr. Mandela's African National Congress and backers of Mr. Buthelezi's Zulu movement, known as the Inkatha Freedom Party.

PRETORIA, South Africa -- An assistant to one of South Africa's top black leaders assumed responsibility yesterday for a political scandal that has rocked the South African government and threatened the country's 18-month-old peace process.M. Zakheli Khumalo, personal assistant to Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said he accepted secret payments of about $90,000 from the South African government without Mr. Buthelezi's knowledge.Mr. Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party said that the Zulu leader would return the money.

NGQAMZANE, South Africa -- When this village's white-shirted Shooting Stars went up against the blue-clad Junior Aces from neighboring Ncekwane in the local soccer championship the other day, the players and their fans wanted a strong referee. And no one is stronger in these parts of KwaZulu-Natal than Mpiyezimtombi Mzimela, 47, the local Zulu chief, or inkosi, before whom members of his tribe often lower their heads and bend their knees in deference. "The people came to me and said, `Because this is a heavy game, we feel you are the person who should officiate in it,' " says Mzimela, who had to break up a fight between the two teams before the Shooting Stars won, 3-1. "This is part of my job -- promoting understanding and unity among my people."