/ 1 January 2002

Mandela slams bully-boy Bush

Former South African president Nelson Mandela on Tuesday continued his strong criticism of the United States over its threat to attack Iraq, declaring that the US wanted to bully the entire world.

Mandela said US President George Bush was in no position to question whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was genuine in his offer to allow the unconditional return of United Nations arms inspectors to his country.

On Monday, Iraq agreed to the return of UN inspectors, who were pulled out of the country in 1998, amid intense diplomatic pressure to head off US threats of war over what the US alleges is a programme by Baghdad to develop weapons of mass destruction.

”What right has he (Bush) to come and say that that offer is not genuine? We must condemn that very strongly. That’s why I criticise leaders for keeping quiet when one country wants to bully the whole world,” an angry Mandela told reporters at his house in Johannesburg.

Mandela said he although he had received help from Bush and former US president Bill Clinton he would not remain silent when Washington made mistakes.

”I will speak out when they are wrong, and on this question of Iraq they’re absolutely wrong,” he said. ”That is a matter for the United Nations.”

Meanwhile, the South African government welcomed the decision by Iraq to readmit the UN weapons inspectors to Baghdad.

”This underlines the critical role that the UN can play in resolving differences among member states,” Foreign Affairs representative Ronnie Mamoepa said.

Mamoepa said South Africa had always maintained the need for Iraq to readmit UN weapons inspectors, thus complying with a UN Security Council resolution.

South Africa had raised the matter consistently in diplomatic interactions with Iraqi leaders, Mamoepa said.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said that Baghdad had now removed any excuse for a US-led attack against it, as oil prices fell sharply as result of the Iraqi announcement.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced he had received a letter from Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri informing him of the government’s decision to allow the return of the weapons inspectors ”without conditions.”

The letter said Iraq wanted to start immediate discussions on practical arrangements for the return of the inspectors, and ”remove any doubts that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction.”

The White House branded Iraq’s offer ”a tactic that will fail” to prevent UN action to disarm Baghdad and called for a tough new Security Council resolution to deal with President Saddam Hussein.

”This is a tactical step by Iraq in hopes of avoiding strong UN Security Council action. As such, it is a tactic that will fail,” representative Scott McClellan said. ”It is time for the Security Council to act.”

US President George Bush still wants ”a new, effective UN Security Council resolution that will actually deal with the threat Saddam Hussein poses to the Iraqi people, to the region, and to the world,” he said.

But Aziz told a gathering of political supporters in Baghdad Tuesday: ”The excuse used to launch an aggression has been totally blocked.”

”We are ready to work with the UN secretary general to apply our … courageous decision,” Aziz stressed.

Weapons inspectors were pulled out of Iraq shortly before four days of intensive bombing in December 1998 led by the United States and Britain, which accused Baghdad of failing to cooperate with the UN teams.

Russia, which remains close to Baghdad, welcomed Iraq’s offer, while China expressed relief, but other members of the UN Security Council were more wary.

”Thanks to our joint efforts, we managed to avert the threat of a war scenario and go back to political means of solving the Iraqi problem,” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said the five-member council ”must now hold Saddam Hussein to his word.”

Britain also reacted cautiously, with a Downing Street representative saying: ”Saddam’s regime has a long history of playing games.”

”His regime has flouted a whole raft of resolutions. Let’s see what they are offering,” the representative added.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Iraq’s offer was ”bound to be treated with a high degree of international scepticism”.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is the only European leader to have given wholehearted backing to Bush’s hard line on Iraq, although his government has put more emphasis on reviving UN arms inspections than on Saddam’s ouster.

”The Iraqi decision is what the international community, including China, has always hoped to see,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

”China will, together with the international community, continue to strive for the political settlement of the Iraqi issue within the framework of the United Nations.”

Under the terms of the disarmament programme imposed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, the UN must verify that Saddam no longer has biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in order for crippling UN sanctions to be lifted.

In his letter to Annan, Sabri emphasised that Baghdad’s actions were in response to Annan saying recently that the inspectors’ return should be ”the indispensable first step” towards ”a comprehensive solution that includes the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iraq” after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Bush had warned the council that if it fails to act to force Baghdad to comply with 16 resolutions he says Saddam has flouted — including those aimed at disarming Iraq — then Washington will be forced to act unilaterally.

In a toughly-worded speech on Thursday to the UN General Assembly, Bush laid out five demands of Saddam: scrap his biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons programs and stockpiles; end support for terrorism; end persecution of Iraq’s civilian population; free or account for non-Iraqi citizens missing since the Gulf War; and end all efforts to circumvent UN economic sanctions.

Annan sought to put a positive spin on the move, saying Bush’s speech had ”galvanised the international community” to put pressure on Iraq.

The inspectors in the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and their chairman Hans Blix were ”ready to continue their work,” said Annan.

The Iraqi move followed days of intense diplomatic lobbying by the United States to drum up support for a tough new council resolution to force Iraq to disarm.

The first hint that Iraq might buckle under pressure came in an announcement by the official Iraqi News Agency that Saddam had chaired three meetings with top aides in Baghdad within 24 hours.

France’s de Villepin said a key factor was unanimity among Arab states that Iraq should let the inspectors back. ”The Arabs are closer than ever, this is a real achievement,” he said.

Annan acknowledged that the Arab states had played a key role, and singled out Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa, for ”his strenuous efforts in helping to convince Iraq to allow the return of the inspectors.”

Tareq Aziz said the decision to accept the return of inspectors came in response to repeated requests from ”Arab and friendly” countries.

Syria said Tuesday that Iraq had shown ”enough flexibility” to avoid war, while Iran said its neighbour had made a ”wise and sensible decision”.

A representative for Blix welcomed the Iraqi statement and said: ”We are ready for immediate talks in New York on the practical arrangements” for resuming inspections, which he said could restart within two weeks.

In early deals on London’s International Petroleum Exchange, Reference Brent North Sea crude for November delivery sank 97 cents to $27,55 a barrel.

And in after-hours trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange’s light sweet crude October contract dived 1,17 cents to $28,50 per barrel. – Sapa-AFP