JOHANNESBURG, MARCH 28: United States President Bill Clinton took no offence at the tongue lashing handed out by South Africa's Nelson Mandela, but remained convinced his Africa policy was on the right track, US officials said today.``He is Nelson Mandela. He is entitled,'' White House spokesman Mike McCurry told reporters as Clinton headed to Johannesburg from Cape Town.
Mandela gave Clinton, the first US president to visit South Africa, a warm welcome in Cape Town, showing him around the island prison in which he spent 18 of his 27 years in jail and saying the American leader had ``the right instincts''.
But in opening remarks at a joint news conference after their formal talks, Mandela scolded Bill Clinton for his policies on Cuba, Iran and Libya and said he would not be bullied by Washington.
He repudiated the central tenet of Clinton's new Africa Policy, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Bill currently before Congress, which seeks to encourage trade and limit aid.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
