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