MANDELA VOICES STRONG SUPPORT FOR CLINTON
USIA
23 September 1998
MANDELA VOICES STRONG SUPPORT FOR CLINTON
(Notes standing ovation at Clinton's UN speech) (430)
By Wendy S. Ross
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- South African President Nelson Mandela voiced strong
support for President Clinton in a September 22 speech at the White
House.
While stating that he does not wish to interfere in the domestic
affairs of the United States, Mandela nevertheless made clear his
feelings on the President's situation at a reception in the East Room
for African-American religious leaders, educators and members of
Congress.
"We are thinking of you in this difficult and disturbing time in your
life," Mandela told the President. "Our morality does not allow us to
desert our friends."
Mandela noted the very positive reception Clinton received September
21 when he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
"That was a strong message they sent," he said of the ovation Clinton
received before and after his speech.
"The United States is completely isolated on this score if you judge
by the reaction of the UN General Assembly," Mandela said of the
criticism Clinton is receiving in his own country.
He praised Clinton's policies, saying "few leaders from the United
States have such a feeling" for the position of black people and
minorities. Clinton "is decisively changing American foreign policy,"
for the better, he said.
Mandela told guests at the reception that on September 20 the
President of Zambia phoned him and urged him to show support for
President Clinton. "He was not speaking for himself, and he said so.
He said, 'I'm speaking for the continent of Africa,'" Mandela said.
Clinton, in remarks at the reception, noted that Mandela, after being
imprisoned in South Africa for 27 years, invited his captors to his
inauguration.
"We thank you, Mr. President, for being the person we'd all like to be
on our best day," Clinton said.
Clinton said one of the greatest blessings he and First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton had shared "is the friendship of this good man,"
President Mandela.
Also speaking at the September 22 White House event was the Reverend
Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr, who said, "It's
time for us to leave our President alone."
Mandela is on a three-day visit to Washington, D.C.
On September 23, Mandela will meet at the White House over coffee with
President Clinton. The two will then go to the US Congress, where
Mandela will recive the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in the
Rotunda of the Capitol.