The World - News from March 22, 1989

The South African government said that four escaped detainees holed up at the West German Embassy can go free, but the black activists remained in their refuge. The four, who had been on a hunger strike to protest their imprisonment without trial, met with their lawyers, who said the escapees will make a statement today. Brig. Leon Mellett, spokesman for Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok, said the escapees are “legally free. . . . They will not be arrested if they walk out of there.” Mellett refused to say if the releases would be unconditional. The escapees--Job Sithole, 21, Ephraim Nkoe, 28, Mpho Lekgoro, 24, and Clive Radebe, 28--had been held for between 10 and 23 months.