FT923-10377 _AN-CG4B3AAFFT 920730 FT 30 JUL 92 / ANC warns on detainees By MICHAEL HOLMAN JOHANNESBURG THE African National Congress (ANC) yesterday warned that South African security force members who assault people in their custody face prosecution under 'a future democratic government'. The warning follows a pathologist's accusation at the weekend that police had killed scores of detainees in recent years. Since the claim, a further two men in police custody have died, one in a police station. The police came in for further criticism this week when the Goldstone commission of inquiry into political violence said the force had failed effectively to prosecute perpetrators of violence on black commuter trains. The commission said it had been unable to say who had been responsible for the killings, adding that 'victims were members of various black ethnic groups'. The police, meanwhile, launched a 'peace offensive' yesterday to restore their authority in black townships around Johannesburg. Mr Hernus Kriel, the law and order minister, said 5,000 police and troops would take part in the 'stabilisation' operation in 16 townships. Some of these are sliding into anarchy. Between July 1991 and April this year, 138 people have been killed and 261 injured. Mr Cyrus Vance, the UN envoy visiting South Africa, yesterday held talks with Mr Nelson Mandela, the ANC leader, and later toured Boipatong, the township where 42 residents were massacred last month. Mr Vance returns to New York tomorrow. The Financial Times International Page 3