Gaddafi meets Mandela in South Africa after visiting Zambia

Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gaddafi, who is holding his first foreign tour after the April suspension of UN sanctions imposed on his country, arrived in South Africa on Sunday for a three-day official visit.

Gaddafi who arrived from Mozambique, was warmly welcomed by outgoing South African President Nelson Mandela.

Mandela introduced Gaddafi to reporters as "the great man." Mandela said: "I said I will never give up my friends who stood with us when we were alone." He addressed those who do not like his friendship with the Libyan president as saying, "They can jump in a swimming pool."

In 1998 Mandela made similar statements in Cape Town in the presence of US President Bill Clinton, and he did not hesitate to denounce the US policy which isolated the government in Tripoli.

Gaddafi, for his part, said his visit to South Africa signifies a "historic moment." He added, "It is a dream to be here in this country with this already freed country with my brother militant Nelson Mandela." Gaddafi added, "Thanks to the efforts of the man who stands before you, South Africa was liberated from the apartheid regime."

Earlier in the day, Sunday, Gaddafi left Lusaka, Zambia following talks he held with President Frederick Chiluba concerning the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire ).