Alonzo
05-08-2008, 03:38 AM
Washington: Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela and the hero of South Africa’s apartheid struggle still figures on a US terrorist watch-list—the result of a "bureaucratic snafu" according to one American Senator.
The white minority government of South Africa labeled Mandela’s party, the African National Congress, a terrorist group in the 1970s and '80s. The US State Department followed suit and put restrictions on ANC members planning to travel to the US.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mandela’s name on the watch-list was "embarrassing,".
"South Africa is a country with which we now have excellent relations, but it's frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela," Rice said.
Howard Berman, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, is pushing a Bill that would remove current and former ANC leaders from the watch-list. The Bill’s supporters hope to get it passed before Mandela's 90th birthday on July 18.
"What an indignity," Berman said. "The ANC set an important example: It successfully made the change from armed struggle to peace. We should celebrate the transformation."
Republican Senator Judd Gregg called ANC members' inclusion on the watch-list a "bureaucratic snafu" and pledged to fix the problem.
In 2002, former ANC chairman Tokyo Sexwale was denied a visa. In 2007, Barbara Masekela, South Africa's ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006, was denied a visa to visit her ailing cousin and didn't get a waiver until after the cousin had died, Berman's legislation said.
Mandela was imprisoned by the apartheid government for 27 years before being freed in 1990. He was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/officially-mandela-still-a-terrorist-in-the-us/64469-2.html
The white minority government of South Africa labeled Mandela’s party, the African National Congress, a terrorist group in the 1970s and '80s. The US State Department followed suit and put restrictions on ANC members planning to travel to the US.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mandela’s name on the watch-list was "embarrassing,".
"South Africa is a country with which we now have excellent relations, but it's frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela," Rice said.
Howard Berman, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, is pushing a Bill that would remove current and former ANC leaders from the watch-list. The Bill’s supporters hope to get it passed before Mandela's 90th birthday on July 18.
"What an indignity," Berman said. "The ANC set an important example: It successfully made the change from armed struggle to peace. We should celebrate the transformation."
Republican Senator Judd Gregg called ANC members' inclusion on the watch-list a "bureaucratic snafu" and pledged to fix the problem.
In 2002, former ANC chairman Tokyo Sexwale was denied a visa. In 2007, Barbara Masekela, South Africa's ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006, was denied a visa to visit her ailing cousin and didn't get a waiver until after the cousin had died, Berman's legislation said.
Mandela was imprisoned by the apartheid government for 27 years before being freed in 1990. He was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/officially-mandela-still-a-terrorist-in-the-us/64469-2.html