Mandela says Powell is undermining United States

Mandela says Powell is undermining United States
Wed Feb 5, 1:02 PM ET

By JAPAN MATHEBULA, Associated Press Writer

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Former South African President Nelson Mandela said Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites)'s presentation to the United Nations (news - web sites) undermined the U.N.'s own efforts to determine whether Iraq was concealing weapons of mass destruction.



Speaking before Powell's speech to the world body, Mandela said chief UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei were the only ones with the authority to determine whether Iraq was complying with U.N. resolutions.


"We are going to listen to them and to them alone. We are not going to listen to the United States of America. They are not telling us how they got that information," Mandela told reporters.


Mandela has repeatedly criticized the United States and Britain, saying they were ignoring the will of the United Nations and pursuing their own belligerent policies against Iraq.


Last week, the Nobel Peace laureate lashed U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites), calling him arrogant and shortsighted and saying he wanted a war to get his hands on Iraqi oil.


"One power with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust," Mandela said last week.


On Wednesday, he said he did not regret those comments.


"I'm not changing a word, not even a comma, of what I said, because I said so because I believe it," he told reporters.


Ignoring the United Nations when it does not do what you want "is to introduce chaos into international affairs," he said.


"What I am condemning is that two countries should go out of the United Nations and have their own separate program, should actually undermine the United Nations," he said.


Mandela, who has also demanded that Iraq comply more actively with the weapons inspectors, said he had tried unsuccessfully to call Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


He dismissed the suggestion he would go to Iraq to talk to Saddam personally, saying he would only go if he received approval from the United Nations.


"I won't go on my own just because I'm invited by Iraq," he said.