Sequel to Long Walk to Freedom - Revision 3 - Chapter 2 Page 12

I added that we had a just cause, numbers and the support of the international community. They had none of these. I appealed to them to stop their plans and to join the negotiations at the World Trade Centre. I spent some time persuading them, but they were adamant and I could not move them at all. Finally, when I was about to give up, the General softened a bit and said he could not approach his people with empty hands, at such an advanced stage of their preparations. Up to that moment, I had insisted that as long as I was president of the ANC, there would never be a Volkstaat in this country. A Volkstaat was a separate autonomous area for the Afrikaner. But now, faced with such a formidable challenge, I decided to retreat in such a way that they would find it far from easy to realise their demand.