Former president Nelson Mandela said on Monday he would strongly condemn any attack by the United States of America on Iraq that had not been approved by the United Nations.
”We are really appalled by any country, whether a super power, or a small country, that goes outside the UN and attacks independent countries,” Mandela said.
”No country must be allowed to take the law into its own hands.”
He said that the United States’ conduct should be exemplary.
Mandela was speaking to reporters in Houghton, Johannesburg after congratulating 11 recipients of Nelson Mandela scholarships awarded by the Unilever Foundation for Education and Development.
He said he had met US President George Bush and had found him to be a man with whom one could discuss matters and who was capable of acknowledging mistakes.
Mandela said he thought that Bush’s advisors had been misleading him and called on them to help him (Bush) ”to take a line that we can respect”.
Asked if he had spoken to Bush by telephone on Monday, Mandela said he had tried to but Bush had been away.
He had instead spoken to US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and to George Bush Snr.
He had asked Bush Snr to speak to his son and advised him ”not to gamble”.
Mandela said he would be speaking to Bush’s National Security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, at 4pm on Monday.
Earlier, the BBC reported that Mandela ”is also said to be seeking a meeting with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to express his concerns” about Iraq.
The BBC quoted Blair’s staff as saying there had been no request to talk to the British prime minister ”so far”.
Blair reportedly is under heavy pressure from his colleagues in the Labour Party to hold the American president in check and polls show a majority of British public opinion is opposed to a war against Iraq.
The 11 recipients of the award are to pursue post graduate studies overseas.
After congratulating each of the individually, Mandela told the group that he had high expectations of them.
The 11 bring the total number of Nelson Mandela Scholarships awarded to 50 in five years.
The scholarship is awarded to develop leadership capacity in previously disadvantaged communities. – Sapa