The Commonwealth EPG Visit: Part 1
On 17 May 1986, the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (EPG), consisting of its co-chairmen, Malcolm Fraser of Australia and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, along with members Lord Barber, Nita Barrow, John Malecala, Swaran Singh and Edward Scott, flew into Lusaka for an engagement with African National Congress (ANC) President Oliver Tambo. The day before, the EPG had been provided permission by the apartheid South African government to visit Nelson Mandela in Pollsmoor Prison. The apartheid government had also agreed in December 1985 to cooperate with the peace initiative that the Commonwealth had launched two months previously.
The first EPG was established at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 1985, held in Nassau and it was tasked to investigate and report on apartheid in South Africa. The EPG reported ahead of the special Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1986, held in London, which was the eighth Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Nassau, the Bahamas, between 16 October 1985 and 22 October 1985, and was hosted by that country’s Prime Minister, Sir Lynden Pindling.
During their visit to Nelson Mandela on 16 May 1986, the EPG discussed a paper that they had developed, titled “A Possible Negotiating Concept”. It detailed actions that might be taken to ensure the success of negotiations and breaking the cycle of violence in South Africa. Specificall
