April 26, 1994 – CBS World News Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
April 26, 1994 – A historic day for South Africa. For the first time ever, South African Blacks were voting in the country’s general election. After decades of apartheid and brutal oppression, it was a new beginning for a country whose Blacks never thought the day would come. The new day wasn’t without problems. Twenty-one people had died and dozens were injured in three days of terrorist bombings leading up to the election. Right wing Whites claimed responsibility for the bombings and threatened more to come. But that didn’t deter the democratic process from taking place. Nelson Mandela, almost assuredly to become the first Black President of South Africa said the actions of the White Right Wing minority were not going to derail a process that had taken too long to achieve. And the mood reflected that as lines stretched for miles outside polling stations across the country as a new era for a multi-racial South Africa was dawning.
In other news – A Taiwanese Airliner crashed on landing at Nagoya Japan, killing some 157 passengers. Eyewitnesses said the plane seemed to drop sharply as it approached the runway. After hitting the runway it burst into flames. The ensuing fire took an hour to put out. The flight originated in Taipei with 269 passengers on board.
The situation in Gorazde was in stalemate mode as Bosnian Serbs faced a new ultimatum from NATO forces. A midnight deadline was issued ahead of renewed air strikes by NATO on Bosnian Serb positions. For the most part, the Serbs blinked, but they staged their withdrawal slowly, so that it would appear to many that it was a victory and not a defeat. The ultimatum stated that artillery had to be removed and positioned some 12 miles outside of Gorazde by midnight. Serb leaders assured NATO commanders that they were complying.
And accused Russian Spy Aldrich Ames and his wife Rosario agreed, tentatively to a plea deal in which they would admit their guilt in exchange for their cooperation with investigators. Ames, a veteran CIA officer, would get a life sentence and his wife, five years or less.
And that’s just a little of what went on, this April 26, 1994 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
