>From MCELROY@zodiac.rutgers.edu Thu Oct 22 17:52:44 1992

            MANDELA: "IRA STRUGGLING FOR SELF-DETERMINATION"

      There was outrage in Britain this week when South African leader Nelson
Mandela argued with Irish pop singer Bob Geldof on national TV after Mandela
announced his support for the IRA.
      The 74 year old African National Congress President shocked the singer
turned chat show host by saying "The IRA are conducting a struggle for self -
assertion. They do not want Britain--a foreign country--to run a colony.
      "We do not want any form of colonialism and, wherever it is, we support
those who fight it. People have a right to self-expression.
      Geldof, who, in the past, had made no secret of his disapproval of the
IRA, denounced Mandela's statement by pointing out the possibility for the
taking of human life in the IRA's bombing campaign in mainland England.
      In response, Mandela said, "In any country, some people will be hit by
crossfire. It has happened throughout history."
      Geldof, who was interviewing Mandela as part of his own Channel 4 talk
show, made his opposition clear by saying "I am from the SOuth and I do not
accept your analysis."
      After being held in jail for almost 30 years by South Africa's apartheid
regime, Mandela caused similar shock-waves in 1991 when, during a visit to
Britain to meet with Prime Minister John Major, he called for the IRA to be
invited to attend the ongoing peace talks process in Northern Ireland. As
things stand, the participants at those talks refuse to sit at the same table as
the IRA.
                                  *****

taken from The Irish Voice, New York. October 27, 1992 
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