Former South African leader Nelson Mandela and United States President George Bush on Tuesday discussed ways to reduce Third World debt, but did not raise their disagreement over Iraq, officials said.
Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize-winner, met with Bush at the White House during a private visit to the US.
The former South African president was an outspoken critic of Bush over the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. But he said before the meeting that it was a disagreement ”among friends”.
”The president was pleased to welcome president Mandela back to the White House,” said White House spokesperson Scott McClellan. ”The two leaders had a very good discussion.”
”They discussed the importance of combating Aids in Africa. They talked about debt forgiveness for developing countries in Africa.”
McClellan said Bush highlighted the US ”commitment to helping on debt forgiveness” and how the topic will feature at the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised powers in Scotland in July.
”It was something that president Mandela brought up, and the president talked about how it’s a priority topic for us at the upcoming G8 summit and that we would be talking about it more at that summit,” said the spokesperson.
McClellan said Iraq was not discussed. He said Bush ”expressed his appreciation for president Mandela’s leadership and courage”.
In a speech in Washington on Monday, Mandela highlighted that he has opposed the Iraq war and does not agree with all of Bush’s moves to spread freedom around the war.
”I endorse president Bush’s call for liberty everywhere, although it is no secret that I have not always supported some means used to achieve this end, particularly in Iraq,” Mandela told the Brookings Institution audience.
”Such disagreements are not uncommon among friends; in fact, they are a mark of strong straightforward and honest friendship,” he added.
”Freedom, after all, means nothing to someone left to die at the mercy of these preventable and treatable diseases,” Mandela said. — Sapa-AFP