South African president holds a closed meeting with Mubarak

South African President Nelson Mandela was in Cairo yesterday before making a visit to Libya. He held a meeting with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak which was attended by high-ranking Egyptian officials.

The discussions between the two presidents dealt with all the problems of the African continent and the developments of the peace process in the Middle East, especially on the Palestinian track.

The discussion also dealt with the development of bilateral relations between Egypt and South Africa since last August, when the two countries signed bilateral cooperation agreements during the second round of meetings of the High Joint Committee which were chaired by the Foreign Ministers of the two counties in Pretoria.

Washington had strongly objected to Mandela's visit to Libya, saying that South Africa violated the embargo imposed on Libya though Mandela will travel to Libya from Tunisia by land in order to comply with UN sanctions against air travel.

Mandela criticized the USA asking, "How can the USA be so rude as to tell us which country we should visit and what friends to take?" He also added, "In spite of the changes that the world had witnessed, still there is humiliation to the black, but this will not prevent me from being the only owner of my decisions."

He added, "They, the Americans, are foolish. Imagine what they would have said if I criticized the Russian President Boris Yeltsin's visit to Albania, as they would not have hesitated to say that I am the rudest black man in the world."