Nelson Mandela

[metis]

Wasn't Mandela responsible for South Africa giving up the bomb?

OK, here's a source with a quote:

...Nelson Mandela despised the bomb. The ANC consistently embraced an antinuclear position and for years, led efforts to expose and cancel the nuclear program. Leaders said that nuclear weapons were not part of South Africa's future and on August 30, 1993, Mandela told the South African Institute of Civil Engineers: "The ANC will abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...We fully support the declaration by the Organization of African Unity calling for the establishment of the African continent as a nuclear-weapons-free zone."

Five years later, addressing the UN General Assembly, Mandela announced that South Africa, along with seven other countries, was putting forth a resolution titled, "Towards a Nuclear Weapons Free World: The Need for a New Agenda." The South African president implored the world to eliminate nuclear weapons: "We must ask the question, which might sound naïve to those who have elaborated sophisticated arguments to justify their refusal to eliminate these terrible and terrifying weapons of mass destruction -- why do they need them anyway?"... -- Nelson Mandela and the Bomb | Vincent Intondi

Thanks for asking as I couldn't remember.

 

[Quagmire]

I'm surprised that no thread had been started on a man whom has long been a hero to me.

Your's is actually the fifth:

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/jewish-private/157152-mandela-israel.html

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/general-debates/157148-nelson-madela.html

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/hinduism-dir/157150-mandela.html

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/current-events/157119-nelson-mandela-has-died.html