Former Foreign Affairs Minister Pik Botha will visit Iraq to warn President Saddam Hussein that he is making a serious mistake by not co-operating fully with United Nations weapon inspectors, according to former President Nelson Mandela.
Mandela was speaking at a Rhodes Trust scholarship banquet in Somerset west, Cape Town on Saturday night.
In off-the-cuff remark, Mandela said he fully supported Botha, who wished to visit Iraq, ”to warn them they must open up completely and allow UN inspectors to inspect anything they want”.
Botha offered his services to the Iraqi government last week, after the chief weapons inspector Hans Blix urged Baghdad to follow the old South African government’s example.
South Africa destroyed its nuclear weapons in the 1990s and invited the UN to carry out a full inspection without any restrictions.
Botha had called him a few days ago to say he wanted to go to Baghdad, Mandela told guests.
”I said I fully support you in that, because one of the mistakes Saddam Hussein has made — despite my appeal — is that he has not allowed the inspectors to go wherever they liked.”
This included private homes to interview scientists on their own.
”Now I say, that was a serious mistake and I have indicated this to the Iraqi.”
Botha, with the experience he gained as one of the longest serving Foreign Ministers, should tell the Iraqi they were making a mistake, Mandela said.
Blix, and his deputy Mohamed El Bardei, were the men of the highest integrity.
”if Iraq does not cooperate it will be very difficult for us to persuade United States and its allies to respect the United Nations.
”So he (Botha) is going to Iraq and unhappy about that.”
Mandela said he had advised that Botha inform President Thabo Mbeki who was overseas.
Botha could not be contacted for comment and the Foreign Ministry was not in a position to comment immediately.
Botha would not be the first South African to visit Iraq to avert war.
A former cabinet colleague Roelf Meyer and Laurie Nathan, a director in Cape Town Centre for Conflicts Resolution, were also in Baghdad recently.
Mandela’s latest comments comes in the wake of his personal attacks on US President Gerge W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Mandela on Thursday described Bush as a leader ”who has no foresight and cannot think properly and who now wants to plunge the world into a holocaust.
He also implied Bush was racist in his readiness to ignore the UN lead by secretary General Kofi Annan.
Blair, was not the British prime minister, but the US foreign minister, Mandela said.
In his speech on Saturday night, Mandela praised Botha for his role in South Africa’s transition to democracy.
Botha, who is now a member of the African National Congress, was ”for more progressive” than his other colleagues and had ”really helped to move” then president FW De Klerk to seek a negotiated settlement.
The former president also explained that his wife Graca Machel had not been able to attend Saturday function as ”our daughter has been hospitalised”.
Mandela did not elaborate while his representative could not be reached. – Sapa