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Africa: Mandela & Afreica on Iraq
AFRICA ACTION
Africa Policy E-Journal
February 6, 2003 (030206)
Africa: Mandela & Africa on Iraq
(Reposted from sources cited below)
This posting contains last week's statement by Nelson Mandela
on the threat of war in Iraq, and excerpts from two related
articles, one a commentary from Nigeria and the other an article on
the anti-war initiatives by South Africa's Ambassador at the United
Nations, Dumisani Kumalo. As the article notes, Ambassador Kumalo
was a key figure in the grassroots divestment campaign against
apartheid while based at the ACOA/Africa Fund in New York in the
1980s, two of the predecessor organizations of Africa Action.]
Notably, the U.S. anti-war movement today includes a similar
strategy, as over 60 U.S. cities - including San Francisco,
Chicago, and Baltimore - have adopted anti-war resolutions. Africa
Action is proud of the role being played today by Ambassador
Kumalo.
The exceptionally strong statement by the former South African
president came as the U.S. push towards war continued to
accelerate, and reflected widely held views in Africa, around the
world, and among large numbers of Americans. Former U.S. President
Jimmy Carter, while finding his fellow Nobel Prize winner's remarks
"excessive," stressed that they reflected views that should lead
U.S. leaders to reflect on the "doubt and consternation" caused by
U.S. policies.
The African Union, meeting in Addis Ababa on February 3, also made
a statement on Iraq, reiterating the need go give diplomatic
efforts more time to work.
U.S. groups involved in planning anti-war actions on February 15
include United for Peace and Justice
(http://www.unitedforpeace.org) and Black Voices for Peace
(http://www.bvfp.org). Black Voices for Peace is headed by Damu
Smith, who served as executive director of the Washington Office on
Africa and the Washington Office on Africa Educational Fund (WOAEF)
in the late 1980s. WOAEF became the Africa Policy Information
Center, and is now also part of Africa Action.
[Meanwhile, new details are emerging as journalists and activists
examine President Bush's budget commitments on HIV/AIDS. The Boston
Globe reported on February 5 that for 2004 the administration is
offseting part of the new AIDS commitment wiht proposed cuts of
$191 million in other international health accounts. According to
the Global AIDS Alliance, the White House is also now pressuring
U.S. Senators to reduce total AIDS authorization for 2004 from $2.5
billion to $2 billion, and to keep support for the Global Fund at
current low levels of $200 million a year. For an earlier Africa
Action statement on the President's announcement, see
http://www.africaaction.org/desk]
+++++++++++++++++end summary/introduction+++++++++++++++++++++++
Mandela Blasts U.S. Policy Toward Iraq
http://allafrica.com
January 30, 2003
By Nelson Mandela
Sandton, South Africa
Former South African President Nelson Mandela strongly criticised
U.S. policy toward Iraq in a speech delivered Thursday to the
International Women's Forum meeting in Sandton, South Africa. The
speech, on the theme of Courageous Leadership for Global
Transformation, was recorded by SABC. What follows are excerpts
from that speech.
It's a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing. All Bush
wants is Iraqi oil. There is no doubt that the U.S. is behaving
badly. Why are they not seeking to confiscate weapons of mass
destruction from their ally Israel? This is just an excuse to get
Iraq's oil.
We have not had world wars in 57 years, and it is because of the
United Nations. We should condemn both [British Prime Minister
Tony] Blair and Bush and let them know in no uncertain terms that
what they are doing is wrong. Other international countries like
France and Russia must influence the United Nations to condemn what
he [Bush] is doing.
Bush is now undermining the United Nations. He is acting outside
it, not withstanding the fact that the United Nations was the idea
of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Both Bush, as well as
Tony Blair, are undermining an idea which was sponsored by their
predecessors. They do not care. Is it because the secretary-general
of the United Nations [Ghanaian Kofi Annan] is now a black man?
[APPLAUSE] They never did that when secretary-generals were white.
What is the lesson of them acting outside the United Nations? Are
they saying any country which believes that they will not be able
to get the support of the countries with a veto [in the United
Nations] are entitled to go outside the United Nations and to
ignore it? Or are they saying we, the United States, are the only
superpower in the world now, [so] we can act as we like? Are they
saying this is a lesson we should follow or are they saying 'we are
special, what we do should not be done by anybody [else]?'
If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in
the world, it is the United States of America. [APPLAUSE] They
don't care for human beings. Fifty-seven years ago, when Japan was
retreating on all fronts, they decided to drop the atom bomb in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki; killed a lot of innocent people, who are
still suffering the effects of those bombs.
Those bombs were not aimed against the Japanese, they were aimed
against the Soviet Union to say, 'look, this is the power that we
have. If you dare oppose what we do, this is what is going to
happen to you'. Because they are so arrogant, they decided to kill
innocent people in Japan, who are still suffering from that.
Who are they, now, to pretend that they are the policemen of the
world? [APPLAUSE] To want to decide for the people in Iraq what
they should do with their government and with their leadership?
If this is done by the United Nations, if the United Nations says
that 'Saddam Hussein is not carrying out the resolutions of the
United Nations, therefore we the United Nations are going to take
action,' I will support that without reservation. [APPLAUSE]
What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no
foresight, who cannot think properly, [LAUGHTER] is now wanting to
plunge the world into a holocaust. I am happy that the people of
the world - especially those of the United States of America - are
standing up and opposing their own president.
I hope that that opposition will one day make him understand that
he has made the greatest mistake of his life in trying to bring
about carnage and to police the world, without any authority of the
international body. It is something we have to condemn without
reservation.
I only hope that the people of the United States will make Bush
aware that he has made a big mistake to want to surpass the global
body, the United Nations, whose ideals are to bring peace and
eradicate wars.
The people of the U.S. should use their democracy to get rid of
him. It is best for the U.S. to use the ballot box and
demonstrations to draw attention to the issue. [LOUD AND SUSTAINED
APPLAUSE]
And the women at this forum are there to look into these things, to
be bold with their leadership and to condemn what is wrong.
And finally, we have of course the question of globalisation in
this country. As [the former South African High Commissioner to the
United Kingdom and current CEO of South African Tourism (SATOUR)]
Cheryl Carolus has said, somebody who is saying he or she is not
going to accept globalisation, is like saying I do not recognise
winter, I am not going to put on clothing for winter!
She has put it very well, because what happens today in northern
Europe has got an effect on our region the same day. Globalisation
is already there, whether we like it or not.
And of course globalisation at the present moment favours the rich
and the mighty. We have to fight that. It must favour all human
beings, whether in Europe or in Africa. And I'm sure this is the
task of this forum to make sure that such irregularities are
rectified.
Thank you very much.
Bush And Mandela's Moral Challenge
Daily Trust (Abuja)
February 3, 2003
By Issa Aremu
[excerpts: full text at
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302030025.html]
US President, George W. Bush "has no foresight" and "cannot think
properly." And that is official and authoritative. The
authoritative verdict is that of Nobel Peace laureate and former
South African President, Nelson Mandela. Perhaps there can be no
such authority on foresight than Mandela himself who as far back as
1961 when others were blind to see it all declared; "No power on
earth can stop an oppressed people determined to win their
freedom." His foresight and deep-seated resolve together with
that of millions of other compatriots saw South African black
people through the tyranny of apartheid, notwithstanding his
exceptional singular sacrifice of 27 years in prison. Bush can
certainly ignore rhetoric from Iraq and North Korea to his own
chosen war-path but he can only ignore this exceptional moral
challenge from Mandela at his own moral peril and consequent
political decline.
It is not just that the message comes from Madiba but precisely
because true to most of his worthy interventions since retirement
(without being tired) the latest from Mandela carries similar words
of wisdom meant to rescue humanity form those bent on destroying
it.
Take for instance Mandela's charge that Bush lacks foresight.
Nothing could be more charitable because yours sincerely thinks
that together with lack of foresight the President of the most
powerful (not necessarily the most moral) country on earth also
lacks benefit of hindsight. When Bush declared that regardless of
UN and increasing anti-war global coalition, America would 'go it
alone', it was clear that memory is in short memory in Washington.
America and indeed any nation cannot go it alone in our ever
interdependent world. It is not just about some brute force or
brutal power but about a painful reality that we all need each
other after all.
In late August 2001, Bush and his arrogant and ignorant team
ignored the world opinion and boycotted Durbar UN conference on
Racism and Xenophobia on the account and assumption that America
could go it alone and disregard resolutions that were not
favourable to its positions with regards to Israel and Palestine.
It was a great paradox that a month after, in the wake of
September 11 terror attacks, America actually needed the world than
the world needed it! All of a sudden, American unilateralism gave
way to world multilateralism as the world rose in solidarity to
condemn terrorism and join US in solidarity and support with
Africa inclusive.
...
Sunday Times - South Africa
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za
Feb. 2, 2003
[excerpts: for full text visit Sunday Times website]
Our man shakes up the UN
South Africa's ambassador has led a spirited campaign against the
US going to war, writes Justice Malala
It is an icy Wednesday morning in New York and Dumisani Shadrack
Kumalo, South Africa's ambassador to the United Nations, is running
again.
He has just been told that an important vote is about to take place
in the UN General Assembly, and he rushes out of his office, jumps
into a car and gets dropped off at the UN headquarters. ...
Kumalo has become one of the most important and powerful
politicians in the UN. Although acknowledged across the spectrum as
popular and hardworking since his appointment in April 1999,
respect for him has grown with the crisis surrounding Iraq.
Kumalo, representing South Africa as leader of the Non-Aligned
Movement and the African Union, essentially opposed the US by
requesting that debates on Iraq take place not behind the closed
doors of the 15-member UN Security Council but in the General
Assembly, where all countries could take part.
He made it possible for the world to express its views on the US's
intention to attack Iraq. Until Kumalo's intervention in October,
the debate had been limited to the ambassadors of the US, Russia,
China, Britain and France. No longer.
"We cannot dictate to the Security Council. But we, as UN member
states, do have the right to have our views expressed before them,
so they know how we feel about this particular issue," Kumalo said
at the time.
The debate led to so many countries expressing outrage at the
prospect of war that UN weapons inspectors were dispatched to Iraq
with the world assured, at least for the time being, that they
would be allowed to do their work.
The debate also gave notice to the US that the world disapproved of
its belligerence.
Last week, when UN inspection leaders Hans Blix and Mohammed El
Baradei reported back to the UN, Kumalo had managed to ensure that
their report was available to all members of the UN, not just the
Security Council.
His interventions have led to acknowledgement that the debate on
the "war on terror" has many sides, and that developing countries
can raise a voice against wars that have the potential to devastate
them. "All we have done as South Africa is prove that you do not
need to be in the Security Council to contribute to international
peace and security. We have forced the only public debate on Iraq,
where more than 100 countries spoke," Kumalo says.
Organisations like the UN were founded to preserve peace, not
support wars, he says, lamenting the fact that the organisation's
work is largely bureaucratic. The UN needs to focus more on
"helping poor people", he says.
"That is why it would be a shame if there is a war. Think of our
neighbours in Africa. If this war goes on it means the price of oil
goes through the roof. It is not the petrol that people think
about. It is the poor people who rely on paraffin who will suffer.
It will be the farmers who rely on diesel," he says.
"If paraffin goes up 50 cents a litre, then it will wipe out a lot
of people because we are going into winter in our part of the
world. War for us is a non-starter."
But tackling the US does not mean Kumalo is unaware of what the US
and Britain, supported by other countries, might decide to do. He
acknowledges that war may indeed be imminent.
After US President George W Bush's speech this week indicating that
war may come soon, Kumalo said: "I am a perpetual optimist. I think
that war can be avoided. You can't work in the UN and be about war.
"The US may still end up going to war, but I hope we allow the
international ways of dealing with issues to prevail. The truth is
we are talking about the world's only superpower and if they decide
to attack Iraq then they certainly can do so. Nobody can stop them.
We just wish and hope that they will consider that other people
around the world think otherwise."
Throughout Kumalo's interventions in the UN, he has kept up his wit
and charm, and he gives the impression that he is always having
fun. His style is a mixture of the Left-leaning intellectual and
the street-smart township boy, essentially a diplomat who knows how
to fight - and how far he can take a fight.
His large frame and booming voice make his presence felt at
gatherings, and his laugh is a fixture in the corridors of the UN.
His colleagues at the world organisation say the friendly exterior
hides a man whose commitment to President Thabo Mbeki's vision of
a united and prosperous developing world is unshakeable.
His toughness was apparent in his life before the UN. After working
as a journalist for the Sunday Times, Drum and The World, Kumalo
fled into exile in the US in 1977. He dedicated his life to
campaigning against apartheid.
While in New York, he was attached to the ANC's UN mission,
interacting with the Special Committee Against Apartheid. Kumalo
also served as projects director of the Africa Fund, a US
non-governmental organisation that spurred more than 30 states, 400
universities and scores of cities to remove their pension funds
from US banks and companies that were doing business with the
apartheid regime.
During that time, Kumalo and others picketed the South African
mission to the UN so regularly and ferociously that it moved to a
residential area (where US law prohibits demonstrations) just to
avoid him. Today, he sits in the office where, in the 1980s, a
letter was written to him saying he was not welcome back home in
South Africa because of his picketing.
Kumalo returned to South Africa to vote in the first democratic
election, and in the UN there is a postcard showing him leading
Soweto residents to vote on April 27 1994.
In 1997, he returned to South Africa more permanently to head the
Department of Foreign Affairs' US desk. In April 1999 he accepted
the job of ambassador to the UN.
Kumalo believes the UN is one of the most difficult diplomatic
postings because one deals with a plethora of issues, not just one
country and its laws.
On Wednesday morning he dealt with issues and delegates from
Rwanda, Britain, the Palestinian Authority and the US - and that
doesn't count those who stopped him in the corridors of the UN.
His deep opposition to the proposed war on Iraq may give the
impression that he is against the US, but Kumalo says he is
sympathetic to Americans' feelings, particularly about the
September 11 terrorist attacks. For years he worked across the
street from the World Trade Center at the American Committee on
Africa and spent a lot of time in the twin towers.
On September 11 he had intended to go to the World Trade Center to
buy a pair of shoes (he buys all his shoes at the same shop because
his feet are wide and most shoes are narrow), but his wife's flight
from South Africa was delayed so he did not go.
Waiting at the office, he saw fire coming out of the first tower
and saw the second aircraft hit. "To me the events of that day had
a personal effect. I personally knew many people who worked in
there, who died there.
"I used to do everything at the World Trade Center. It was a
personal shock, and a shock for everyone else.
"So the US was woken up to the fact that terrorism touches
everyone. The challenge for them is how to respond. The
disadvantage that the US faces is that it is a major power. It is
like an elephant: when it reacts the people on the receiving end
experience it as an avalanche.
"The US has the right to defend itself. The only thing we are
saying is that in defending itself we must not break the norms and
rules that the international community has agreed to," he says.
Asked if the onus is not on the Iraqis to produce the weapons they
are allegedly hoarding, Kumalo says: "Maybe there is nothing there.
It is also good to know that there is nothing, because that means
we must leave the sanctions and allow the people of Iraq to rebuild
their country.
"That is precisely the point: for the inspectors to go and find
whatever there is and destroy it. The state we are all shooting for
is a state of nothing, no weapons of mass destruction."
The Iraq debate has put a spotlight on the effectiveness of the UN
as an institution and many commentators have asked what the future
holds for it if the US decides, unilaterally, to go to war. For
Kumalo, who is one of the facilitators of a committee to revitalise
the UN, the challenge is to make its General Assembly more
powerful.
"This whole Iraq issue is being handled only in the Security
Council, but it is really an issue which should be in the General
Assembly and be dealt with by the 191 members. Unfortunately for
us, the assembly is not at the strength where it can deal with such
issues," he says.
"If the UN were really about doing its work, then it would be
dealing with issues of poverty and underdevelopment. Those are the
issues the UN should be about. War only adds to misery."
Kumalo's efforts at the UN mean he is always in demand, always on
the move between meetings and speeches and functions.
But these days everyone at the UN knows that when the man who is
always running stops to talk about Iraq, a lot of important people
stop to reflect. And that includes the leaders of the world's most
powerful country, the United States of America.
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Date distributed (ymd): 030206
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +security/peace+ +US policy focus+
The Africa Action E-Journal is a free information service
provided by Africa Action, including both original
commentary and reposted documents. Africa Action provides this
information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and
international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of
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