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WASHINGTON: Former South African President Nelson Mandela received a
gift for his 90th birthday as US Congress finally approved the
removal of his name from the country’s terrorist list, local media
reported on Friday.
The Senate unanimously green lighted the
legislation on a voice vote late on Thursday, removing the
“terrorist” label and travel restrictions imposed on Mandela and
other senior members of his African National Congress (ANC).
A same legislation was passed on May 8, at the
House of Representatives.
In an address to the Senate last month, US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged for the removal, saying
“It is frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to
waive in my own counterparts—the foreign minister of South Africa,
not to mention the great leader, Nelson Mandela.”
“I really do hope that we can remove these
restrictions on the ANC. This is a country with which we now have
excellent relations—South Africa,” she said.
The South African apartheid government banned
the ANC in 1960 and the latter’s leaders were jailed or forced
into exile until the ban on the movement was lifted 30 years later.
Mandela was jailed for 27 years for his
leadership in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He
became the first post-apartheid-era president years after his
release in 1990.
“It is shameful that the United States still
treats the ANC this way based solely on its designation as a
terrorist organization by the old apartheid South African regime,”
said Howard Berman, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs who introduced the legislation.
-- Xinhua
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