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.

He also denied any role in the unequal distribution of funding along racial and ethnic lines during his time as minister of education in South Africa.

"We should close the book on the past," de Klerk said.

De Klerk focused his speech on the theoretical problems of cutural strife within nations, drawing examples from current international crisises such as Bosnia and the "often-ignored" civil war in Sudan.

He did not, however, address the history of South Africa.

In his distinct Afrikaaner accent, de Klerk philosophized about extending the concept of individual rights to communities, to protect groups just as governments now protect individuals.

He also pointed to intercommunal conflict among ethnic, religious and cultural groups as the cause of much of the world's problems.

"Why are there so many serious conflicts? Analysis will show it was a failure to manage diversity," de Klerk told the crowd.

De Klerk called for a stronger international presence to increase cooperation among disparate groups, condemning the often "ad hoc" nature of the global community's response to inter-ethnic crisis.

De Klerk suggested that communities in a multi-cultural society be given the maximum "breathing space" and the opportunity to express their traditions.

Ending his speech on a hopeful tone, de Klerk raised the possibility of a global village which would foster new cultural interaction and new codes of behavior.

Students at the speech said they wondered how honest deKlerk was actually being.

"I'm sure there's stuff he's not telling us," said South African student Daniel Michalow '04.

--Staff writer Nicole B. Usher can be reached at usher@fas.harvard.edu.