F.W. de Klerk was the last South African president under apartheid, who shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) for their work ending the nation’s oppressive political system.A controversial world leader, de Klerk was the youngest president in South Africa’s history when he was elected in 1989.
A conservative leader, he was not initially expected to bring substantial change to the entrenched system of white-minority rule.
But he surprised many when, shortly after he took power, he entered conversations with Mandela – then still a political prisoner – about transitioning out of apartheid.
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