THE LONDON GUARDIAN 5 APRIL 2000

  Mandela accuses 'policeman' Britain

Anthony Sampson
Wednesday April 5, 2000

Nelson Mandela, on his first visit to Britain since he retired as president
of South Africa last year, yesterday accused the government of encouraging
international chaos, together with America, by ignoring other nations and
playing "policeman of the world".
In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Mandela said he resented the behaviour
of both Britain and America in riding roughshod over the United Nations and
launching military actions against Iraq and Kosovo.

"Tony Blair is a young man I like very much," Mr Mandela said. "But I am
resentful about the type of thing that America and Britain are doing. They
want now to be the policemen of the world and I'm sorry that Britain has
joined the US in this regard.

"It's a totally wrong attitude. They must persuade those countries like
China or Russia who threaten to veto their decisions at the UN. They must
sit down and talk to them. They can't just ignore them and start their own
actions."

Such disregard for international conventions was more dangerous to world
peace than anything that was currently happening in Africa, Mr Mandela said.

"Africa hasn't got the capacity to create such destruction of innocent
civilians as the western powers have. We have no bombs in the proper sense
of the word, except one or two countries, and we have no lethal weapons such
as the west has.

"What they are doing is far more serious than what is happening in Africa -
especially the US and Britain. It is proper for me to say that."

Mr Mandela's attack follows similar charges this week from fellow African
leaders angered by British attitudes. On Monday, President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe accused the government of treating his country as though it were
still a British colony, while the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, claimed
Europeans had long regarded Africans "like gorillas".

Mr Mandela is on a private visit to Britain and Ireland to see friends and
to raise funds on behalf of his charity, the Mandela Foundation. He will be
speaking at the London School of Economics tomorrow.

He pointed to Britain and America's decision to bomb both Iraq and Kosovo
without seeking permission from the UN Security Council. "The message
they're sending is that any country which fears a veto [from the UN] can
take unilateral action. That means they're introducing chaos into
international affairs: that any country can take a decision which it wants."

Mr Mandela even suggested a racist motive behind America's neglect of the
UN.

"The US did not do this when the secretary-general of the UN was white. They
are doing it now, ignoring the UN under Kofi Annan. And there are many
people who are whispering that it is because the secretary-general is black.
That perception is disturbing."

Mr Mandela was reluctant to criticise Mr Mugabe, who he suggested had been
unfairly represented in the media.

"The South African press unfortunately are so hostile to Mugabe that they
are prepared to say things which we know are not true about him. Simply
because he lost the referendum, they think he is going to lose the
election," he said.

"The fact that he has lost the referendum may be a blessing in disguise for
him. Because Mugabe is a strategic thinker, he's a very capable man. If I
have to express an opinion, he is likely to retain power."

He denied that something had gone wrong with the idea of African democracy.

"Clearly there are problems in Africa, but African leaders are rising to
expectations. You are having democracy throughout the continent, with a few
exceptions."


  Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------