South African white supremacist demands Afrikaner state

A notorious white supremacist from South Africa's apartheid era has revealed plans to rally far right groups and apply to the United Nations for a breakaway Afrikaner republic.

Eugene Terre'Blanche was the voice of hardline opposition to the end of white minority rule in the early 90s, but has been in relative obscurity since his release in 2004 after a prison sentence for beating a black man nearly to death.

He said yesterday that he had revived his Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) after several years of inactivity and it would meet with like-minded groups on 10 October to discuss joining forces and pushing for secession from South Africa.



"The circumstances in the country demanded it," he told South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper. "The white man in South Africa is realising that his salvation lies in self-government in territories paid for by his ancestors."

Terre'Blanche said he wanted to organise a referendum for those wanting an independent homeland, where English would be an accepted language along with Afrikaans. "It's now about the right of a nation that wants to separate itself from a unity state filled with crime, death, murder, rape, lies and fraud."

Terre'Blanche said taking up arms was not part of the new far-right plan. "For now there are other options we have to exercise first. We have a strong case to take to the United Nations." The AWB – whose flag resembles a Nazi swastika – was founded in 1973 with the aim of maintaining white supremacy by any means.