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Mandela off U.S. terrorism watch list
WASHINGTON (CNN) --
Former South African President Nelson Mandela is to be removed from a U.S.
terrorism watch list under a bill President Bush signed Tuesday. Mandela and other members of
the African National Congress have been on the list because of their fight
against South Africa's apartheid regime, which gave way to majority rule in
1994. Apartheid was the nation's
system of legalized racial segregation that was enforced by the National Party
government between 1948 and 1994. The bill gives the State
Department and the Homeland Security Department the authority to waive
restrictions against ANC members. "He had no place on our
government's terror watch list, and I'm pleased to see this bill finally become
law," said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. South Africa's apartheid
government had designated the ANC a terrorist organization during the group's
decades-long struggle against whites-only rule. Its members have been barred
from receiving U.S. visas without special permission, and the bill Bush signed
will lift that requirement, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. "What it will do is make
sure that there aren't any extra hoops for either a distinguished individual,
like former President Mandela, or other members of the African National
Congress to get a U.S. visa," Casey said. Mandela
shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with F. W. de Klerk, the South African
president and National Party leader who worked with Mandela to end apartheid.
Mandela replaced him as president in 1994 and served until 1999. Recognized as a symbol of
freedom and equality, Mandela will turn 90 on July 18. He spent 27 years in prison on
charges that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle
against apartheid. He was released in 1990. The bill is H.R. 5690, which
"authorizes the Departments of State and Homeland Security to determine
that provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act that render aliens
inadmissible due to terrorist or criminal activities would not apply with
respect to activities undertaken in association with the African National
Congress in opposition to apartheid rule in South Africa." |
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