July 27, 1985

Anywhere else in Africa, a sudden state of emergency after months of unrest might evoke the image of tanks in front of a stuccoed palace and troops controlling traffic at intersections. Not in South Africa. In South Africa, the troops are there, but over the hill, out of the view of most visitors or white residents, patrolling in black townships designed to be invisible from white areas and business centers. A visitor arriving in Johannesburg today, for instance, would see smooth highways leading in from the airport, and much traffic, and, despite a six-day-old state of emergency, bustling streets in a city center where the main task of the police seems to be to issue parking tickets.

Leaders of the United Automobile Workers today approved an innovative labor agreement to cover workers at a factory that the General Motors Corporation plans to build for its new Saturn model, a factory that Tennessee's Senators said would be built in their state. Approval of the contract had been delayed for several weeks by disputes over job security and some technical issues. Spokesmen for General Motors had said they would not announce the location of the $5 billion Saturn project, which will employ 6,000 U.A.W. members, until the approval came. In Washington, Senators Albert Gore Jr. and Jim Sasser, both Democrats, said there was no doubt that the factory site would be near Spring Hill, Tenn., about 30 miles from Nashville. ''This is a day of joy and celebration for Tennessee,'' Senator Gore said. ''We won.''

A Bronx man was arrested yesterday and charged in connection with the 10 recent attacks on women in midtown Manhattan office buildings, authorities said. The man, Russell West of 811 Walton Avenue, was paroled last year after serving 10 years for a 1974 conviction on rape and robbery charges, according to the police. Those offenses also involved knifepoint attacks on women in midtown office buildings. Assistant Chief Anthony Voelker said Mr. West was arrested outside his residence at 7:20 A.M. yesterday. ''He was taken by surprise - he was taken without resistance,'' Chief Voelker said at a news conference.

Four years after being ousted by the Nicaraguan Army, the first of 35,000 Miskito Indians have begun to move back to their traditional homeland along the Atlantic coast with the Government's blessing. The Miskitos had been uprooted from their homes along the broad, muddy Coco River without warning, their houses destroyed, possessions removed, crops and farm animals left behind. The mass evacuation and the travail the Miskitos faced as refugees attracted worldwide attention. Opponents of the Sandinista Government, including President Reagan, held up the Indians' plight as an example of official repression in Nicaragua.

Localities will have to bear more of the cost of future water projects subsidized by the Federal Government, Congressional negotiators agreed today. This principle, strongly supported by the Administration, represents a significant change in Federal policy. Until now, the United States Goverment absorbed most of the cost for such projects, including dams, harbors and flood control dikes. The permanent cost-sharing formulas for future projects will have to be worked out in legislation. Until then, no new project can go forward unless the Corps of Engineers works out a specific plan for sharing the costs with the municipalities and the states involved.