In the past few weeks Nelson Mandela has been highly critical of the US’s attitude towards Iraq. To many he is one of the most renowned International statesman and his views command worldwide respect.
Why Nelson Mandela is Angry
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Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) September 27, 2002
If there is anything wrong with Madiba it is that for the past decade he has been misunderstood, writes Gary Younge
Say what you like about Nelson Mandela, but he is not a man known to bear a grudge or lose his temper easily. Having waited 27 years for his freedom, he emerged from jail to preach peace and reconciliation to a nation scarred by racism. When he finally made the transition from the world’s most famous prisoner to the world’s most respected statesman, he invited his former jailer to the inauguration.
So when he criticises United States foreign policy in terms every bit as harsh as those he used to condemn apartheid, you know something is up. In the past few weeks he has issued a “strong condemnation” of the US’s attitude towards Iraq, lambasted Vice-President Dick Cheney for being a “dinosaur” and accused the US of being “a threat to world peace”.
Coming from other quarters, such criticisms would have been dismissed by both the White House and Downing Street as the words of appeasement, anti-Americanism or left-wing extremism. But Mandela is not just anyone.
Towering like a moral colossus over the late 20th century, his voice carries an ethical weight like no other. He rode to power on a global wave of goodwill, left office when his five years were up and settled down to a life of elder statesmanship. So the belligerent tone he has adopted of late suggests one of two things; either that something is very wrong with the world, or that something is very wrong with Mandela.
**What Mandela believes is wrong with the world is not difficult to fathom. He is annoyed at how the US is exploiting its overwhelming military might. **Earlier this month, after President George W Bush would not take his calls, he spoke to Secretary of State Colin Powell and then the president’s father, asking the latter to discourage his son from attacking Iraq.
“What right has Bush to say that Iraq’s offer is not genuine?” he asked this month. “We must condemn that very strongly. No country, however strong, is entitled to comment adversely in the way the US has done. They think they’re the only power in the world. They’re not and they’re following a dangerous policy. One country wants to bully the world.”
Having supported the bombing of Afghanistan, he cannot be dismissed as a peacenik. But his assessment of the current phase of Bush’s war on terror is as damning as anything coming out of the Arab world. “If you look at these matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.”
And then there is the dreaded “r” word. Accusations of discrimination do not fall often or easily from Mandela’s lips, but when they do, the world is forced to sit up and listen. So far, he has fallen short of accusing the West of racism in its dealings with the developing world, but he has implied sympathy with those who do. “When there were white secretary generals, you didn’t find this question of the US and Britain going out of the United Nations. But now that you’ve had black secretary generals, such as Boutros Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan, they do not respect the UN. This is not my view, but that is what is being said by many people.”
Most surprising in these broadsides has been his determination to point out particular individuals for blame. As a seasoned political hand, Mandela has previously eschewed personal invective but has clearly made an exception when it comes to Cheney. In 1986 Cheney voted against a resolution calling for his release because of his alleged support for “terrorism”. Mandela insists that he is not motivated by pique. “Quite clearly we are dealing with an arch-conservative in Dick Cheney … my impression of the president is that this is a man with whom you can do business. But it is the men around him who are dinosaurs, who do not want him to belong to the modern age.”
In fact, behind the scenes, the White House is attempting to portray Mandela, now 84, as something of a dinosaur himself – the former leader of an African country, embittered by the impotence that comes with retirement and old age. It is a charge they have found difficult to make stick.
Mandela has never been particularly encumbered by delusions of grandeur. When asked whether he would be prepared to mediate in the current dispute, he replied. “If I am asked by credible organisations to mediate, I will consider that very seriously. But a situation of this nature does not need an individual, it needs an organisation like the UN to mediate. A man who has lost power and influence can never be a suitable mediator.”
In truth, since leaving office he has shown consummate diplomatic skill. In 1999 he persuaded Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi to hand over the two alleged intelligence agents indicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Last year he was personally involved in the arrangement – sanctioned by the UN – to send South African troops to Burundi as a confidence-building measure in a bid to forestall a Rwandan-style genocide. …
