Former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner F.W. de Klerk described his vision for inter-ethnic cooperation to an overflow audience at the ARCO Forum last night while fervently denying any responsibility for crimes committed under his nation's former apartheid regime.

"Freedom is more than just the protection of individual rights," de Klerk said. "Not even the most enlightened democracy can have intercommunity hatred and brutality."

De Klerk, who shared his 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela, is credited with facilitating South Africa's peaceful transition from a racially and ethnically segregated society to one which guarantees equal rights to its members.

Yet de Klerk also played an active role as an apartheid politician.

Audience members questioned de Klerk's own involvement in the crimes of the apartheid era, accusations that de Klerk strongly disavowed.

"There was never any green light [from me] to commit atrocities. Between me and my God, I have a clear conscience," de Klerk told the crowd.

De Klerk said he saw a distinction between the acts of state leaders and their "foot soldiers" and cited the findings of the South African Truth and Reconcilation Commission in his defense.

"The Truth and Reconciliation Committee could not make a single finding of me being involved in direct or indirect authorization of acts of atrocities," he said.