Johannesburg | Monday
LIBERATION fighters have no need to attack civilians, President Thabo Mbeki declared on Sunday, recalling the “moral” war against South Africa’s apartheid regime.
“Even as our enemy and its friends denounced our movement as terrorist, we took strict measures to avoid the use of terror against the people,” Mbeki writes in a letter due to be posted this week on the African National Congress (ANC) Internet site in reaction to the attacks on the United States.
“Our movement insisted that to resort to terrorism would be to dishonour our struggle and to destroy its morality,” he says.
Mbeki writes that the ANC opposed attacks on so-called soft targets but accuses the white rulers of the time of having no hesitation in resorting to terrorism to entrench their minority regime.
He also called for the restoration of the rights of the Palestinians.
Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president with the end of apartheid in 1994, meanwhile urged the United States to show caution.
“The United States must avoid any course of action which will be as unpopular as that of the terrorists,” he said on a visit to Kimberley, 470 kilometres southwest of Johannesburg.
“The United States’ response must not be allowed now to raise or to intensify, hatred against the Arab nations and the Muslims.
“The countries, both the masterminds and those who have executed this action, must be accurately identified and punished, most severely.” Meanwhile, Libyan leader Moammer Gadaffi said that Washington has “the right to take revenge” for the attacks on its soil, but implied it would not put an end to terrorism.
“The US has the right today to take revenge after the tragedy it has faced, but will this put an end to the violence and terrorism in the world?” Gadaffi said near Benghazi, some 1 000 kilometres east of the capital. “America, as a superpower, must be reasonable, courageous and patient and vengeance will bring it nothing,” the Libyan leader said.
“If the United States hits Afghanistan, will it end the violence in the world, especially since (Afghanistan) has no infrastructure that can be attacked,” he said, adding that an attack would “not be in its interests.”
There are fears of an impending US attack against Afghanistan as the country’s ruling Islamic Taliban militia harbours as its “guest” Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, who is considered the prime suspect in the attacks.
In August, President George W. Bush said that Washington could foresee establishing better relations with Libya if it is prepared to address the issues that weigh on the US, in particular over the support for terrorism.
However, early this month Gadaffi also mocked Washington for its inability to catch bin Laden, who was already on the country’s list of most-wanted men.
“He is a tiny man, weighing no more than 50 kilograms. He has only a Kalashnikov rifle in his hands. He doesn’t even wear a military uniform,” the Libyan leader said.
“He wears a jalabiyah (Arab robe) and turban and lives in a cavern, eating stale bread. He has driven the US crazy, more than the former Soviet Union did. Can you imagine that?” Gadaffi said. – AFP