Nelson Mandela on US terrorist watchlist!

Mandela still figures on the US terrorist watchlist and needs special permission to visit America.

Nobel Peace Prize winner anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela still figures on the US terrorist watchlist and needs special permission to visit America.

The requirement applies to Mandela and other members of South Africa8217;s ruling African National Congress ANC, the once-banned anti-apartheid organisation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has termed the situation 8216;embarrassing8217;, and some members of the Congress have vowed to fix it, the USA Today reported.

In the 1970s and 8217;80s, the ANC was officially designated a terrorist group by the country8217;s ruling white minority. Other countries, including the US, followed suit.

Because of this, Rice told a Senate committee recently, her department has to issue waivers for ANC members to travel to the USA.

8220;This is a country with which we now have excellent relations, South Africa, but it8217;s frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela,8221; Rice said.

Chairman of the House International Relations Committee Howard Berman is pushing a bill that would remove current and former ANC leaders from the watch lists.

Story continues below this ad

Supporters hope to get it passed before Mandela8217;s 90th birthday on July 18. 8220;What an indignity,8221; Berman said. 8220;The ANC set an important example: It successfully made the change from armed struggle to peace. We should celebrate the transformation.8221;

Mandela, the hero of movement against apartheid, a repressive regime that subjugated black South Africans, was imprisoned for 27 years before being freed in 1990. He was elected South Africa8217;s first black president in 1994.

Republican Senator Judd Gregg called ANC members8217; inclusion on watch lists a 8216;bureaucratic snafu8217; and pledged to fix the problem. Members of other groups deemed a terrorist threat, such as Hamas, also are on the watchlists.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said 8216;common sense8217; suggests Mandela should be removed. He said, 8220;The issue raises a troubling and difficult debate about what groups are considered terrorists and which are not.8221;

Story continues below this ad

When ANC members apply for visas to the USA, they are flagged for questioning and need a waiver to be allowed in the country.

In 2002, former ANC chairman Tokyo Sexwale was denied a visa. In 2007, Barbara Masekela, South Africa8217;s ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006, was denied a visa to visit her ailing cousin and didn8217;t get a waiver until after the cousin had died, Berman8217;s legislation said.