SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA SAYS THE TIME HAS ARRIVED FOR WHAT HE CALLS AN "AFRICAN RENAISSANCE" IN WHICH THE TROUBLED CONTINENT ASSERTS ITS RIGHT TO BE AN EQUAL PARTNER IN WORLD AFFAIRS. MR. MANDELA MADE THE STATEMENT IN A SPEECH TO ZIMBABWE'S PARLIAMENT.MR MANDELA MADE AN IMPASSIONED PLEA FOR AFRICA TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS PROBLEMS AND USE WHAT HE CALLED ITS IMMENSE COLLECTIVE WISDOM TO MAKE A REALITY OF THE IDEA OF AN AFRICAN RENAISSANCE.
HE SAID IT WAS A RENAISSANCE IN WHICH AFRICA MUST REFUSE TO BE A PASSIVE ONLOOKER IN A CHANGING WORLD, A HAPLESS VICTIM TO WHAT HE CALLED MODERN MACHINATIONS BY THE FORCES HISTORICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HER WOES.
HE SAID THAT ONLY IN THIS WAY COULD AFRICA ASSERT HER RIGHT TO BE AN EQUAL PARTNER IN WORLD AFFAIRS.
MR. MANDELA IS ON A THREE-DAY VISIT TO ZIMBABWE AND IS THE FIRST FOREIGN HEAD OF STATE TO ADDRESS THE COUNTRY'S PARLIAMENT.
HE STRESSED THE NEED FOR AFRICAN LEADERS TO COMMIT THEMSELVES TO IMPROVING THE LIVES OF THEIR PEOPLE, SAYING THAT IN ANCIENT AFRICAN EMPIRES, THE LEADERS WERE CALLED ON TO BE THE "GUARDIANS OF THE ORPHANS, THOSE WHO SUFFER, AND ESPECIALLY THE POOR."
HE RETURNED TO THAT POINT REPEATEDLY -- PERHAPS TO THE DISCOMFORT OF SOME MEMBERS OF ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE'S RULING POLITICAL ELITE -- PRESENT IN PARLIAMENT -- WHO HAVE RECENTLY BEEN ACCUSED OF LOOTING FUNDS MEANT FOR WAR VICTIMS AND ABUSING HOUSING LOANS MEANT FOR THE POOR.
AT THE SAME TIME, MR. MANDELA PRAISED MR. MUGABE AS A LIBERATOR AND A "HERO" TO SOUTH AFRICANS. HE WAS CAUTIOUS, HOWEVER, IN ADDRESSING THE MAJOR POINT OF FRICTION BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES -- TRADE.
SOUTH AFRICA IS ZIMBABWE'S BIGGEST TRADING PARTNER AND ZIMBABWE HAS, SINCE MR. MANDELA CAME TO POWER IN 1994, PRESSED, WITHOUT SUCCESS, FOR THE RENEWAL OF A FAVORABLE TRADE AGREEMENT.
MR. MANDELA SAID ONLY HE WAS ENCOURAGED BY TALKS BETWEEN THE TWO GOVERNMENTS ON THE ISSUE.
19-May-97
Source: Voice of America