Swiss Helped Fund Meeting of S. Africa Rebels and Liberals

BERN, Switzerland — The Swiss government helped finance last month’s meeting in Dakar, Senegal, between white South African liberals and members of the banned African National Congress, a government spokesman said Saturday.

Bern contributed the equivalent of $29,000, with another $150,000 coming from the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish governments as well as a number of individual groups, he said.

The aim was “to further dialogue between the various political directions in South Africa,” the spokesman said.

In a speech Thursday, South African President Pieter W. Botha strongly criticized the white liberals who took part in the meeting and attacked the foreign countries that helped fund it. He did not name them.