Some countries have faced situations in which citizens demand accountability for atrocities committed by previous domestic governments. Those nations have chosen various routes in attempts to come to terms with years of atrocities.
For nearly 50 years, South Africa was ruled by a whites-only government that imposed a policy of apartheid, or strict separation of races. During that time, several resistance groups such as the African National Congress (ANC) tried to destabilize the country, and the government frequently cracked down violently on dissent and imprisoned prominent black leaders. The policy of apartheid was finally abolished in the early 1990s, and Nelson Mandela, an ANC leader who had been jailed for 27 years, was elected president in 1994.
Many black leaders wanted to punish white officials and others who had helped kill and repress thousands of blacks during apartheid. They advocated setting up a tribunal similar to the one established in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945 to prosecute those accused of war crimes during World War II. But the Mandela-led government, adhering to a compromise that had been reached during negotiations leading up to the end of apartheid, decided instead to establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission, in operation since April 1996, investigates apartheid-era atrocities and seeks to place blame on individuals. Under its mandate, it grants amnesty to those who confess their roles in full and can prove that their actions served some political motive.
Supporters of the commission believe that its structure encourages disclosure of the crimes and allows the public to assign blame to responsible individuals. That approach will help heal the nation, they argue, and prevent more cycles of racial and ethnic strife. Mandela and his backers say that they want to move the country forward once the truth of what happened in the past has been uncovered and national reconciliation has begun.
Many South Africans, including some ANC members, believe that the commission is too lenient, however. They have opposed amnesty bids by several whites who killed blacks during apartheid. Those whites have claimed that the killings occurred during periods when the white-led government was engaged in a political power struggle with black rebel groups.