From:    IN%"[log in to unmask]"
To:      Multiple recipients of list CAMNET <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: fwd MANDELA: "I'M MASTER OF MY OWN FATE"

What can Africa become if all leaders were like Mandala?  I guess like
heaven.  God bless Nelson Mandela.
----------------------------------------

.c The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG, <A HREF="aol://4344:30.GR_SAfri.5262077.542489128">South Africa<
/A> (AP) - South African President Nelson Mandela lashed out at the United
States for criticizing his pending trip to <A HREF="aol://4344:30.GR_Libya.528
5418.541962801">Libya</A>, saying the rebuke smacks of racism, a newspaper
reported Sunday.

Mandela told 500 people at a banquet that if he aimed similar criticism at a
white leader visiting a white-majority country, he would be roundly attacked,
according to Johannesburg's Sunday Independent.

``They would say that I am the most arrogant black man,'' the South African
president said Friday. ``Notwithstanding the changes in the world, the
contempt for blacks is still deep-seated. (But) I am master of my own fate.''


Mandela did not refer to the United States by name but left the audience in
no doubt about the country he was referring to, the paper said.

The State Department on Thursday said it would be ``disappointed'' if Mandela
visits the Arab state.

Washington considers Libya a sponsor of international terrorism. Libya has
angered the United States and Britain by refusing to extradite two suspects
in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that
killed 270 people.

Libya has suggested holding a trial for the suspects in a neutral country,
conducted under Scottish law.

Mandela is likely to try to work out an agreement on the dispute.

United Nations sanctions against Libya also prohibit flights to Tripoli, the
Libyan capital. Mandela will comply with the sanctions by traveling to Libya
overland from Tunisia.

Mandela, who is seeking to maintain South Africa's ties with Libya, plans to
visit Libya Wednesday or Thursday, before attending a Commonwealth meeting in
Scotland.

He said the Libya trip fulfilled a moral commitment to Libya.

``Libya was one of those countries that supported us during our struggle when
others were working with the apartheid regime,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Libya assailed the U.S. criticism, calling it ``despicable
interference in the internal affairs of independent countries,'' according to
a report Sunday by Libya's official JANA news agency.


AP-NY-10-19-97 1741EDT