NATION & WORLD
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Wednesday, December 11, 2013 THE NEW MEXICAN
Obama hails Mandela as ‘great liberator’ President eulogizes anti-apartheid icon, tells world to carry on message of peace
Obama compared the South African leader to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.
By Alan Clendenning, Christopher Torchia and Jon Gambrell The Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG — Amid cheers and song for the prisoner who became peacemaker, President Barack Obama energized tens of thousands of spectators and nearly 100 visiting heads of state Tuesday with a plea for the world to emulate Nelson Mandela, “the last great liberator of the 20th century.” Obama’s eulogy was the rhetorical highlight of a memorial service in which South Africans celebrated Mandela’s life with singing and dancing, often during dignitaries’ speeches. They also booed their own president and were chided by a top government official who said: “Let’s not embarrass ourselves.” Lashing rain lent a freewheeling aspect to the memorial, with people taking shelter in the stadium’s wide hallways, where they sang anti-apartheid anthems from the 1970s and 1980s. Foul weather kept many away, and the 95,000-capacity stadium was only two-thirds full. Obama implored people to embrace Mandela’s universal message of peace and justice, comparing the South African leader to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. Mandela spent 27 years in prison under a racist regime, and promoted forgiveness and reconciliation when he was finally freed. “We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,” Obama said. “But let me say to the young people of Africa, and young people around the world — you can make his life’s work
Africa’s last apartheid-era president, F.W. de Klerk, received the President Barack Obama Nobel Peace Prize. De Klerk, kisses Nelson Mandela’s a political rival who became widow Graça Machel during friends with Mandela, was also Tuesday’s memorial for Manin the stadium. dela in Soweto, South Africa. In his Nobel acceptance MATT DUNHAM/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS speech at the time, Mandela said: “We live with the hope next year. that as she battles to remake A dazzling mix of royalty, statesmen and celebrities was in herself, South Africa will be like a microcosm of the new world attendance. that is striving to be born.” Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded The rain was seen as a blessMandela as president, got a ing among many of South Afrirousing cheer as he entered the ca’s majority black population. President Barack Obama addresses the crowd gathered Tuesday at FNB Stadium to honor for- stands. French President Fran“Only great, great people mer South African president Nelson Mandela. EVAN VUCCI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS çois Hollande and his predecesare memorialized with it,” said sor and rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, Harry Tshabalala, a driver for ter was the first of its kind with thunderous applause, and your own.” arrived together. the justice ministry. “Rain is life. between sitting U.S. and Cuban He hailed Mandela, who died many heads of state and other U.N. Secretary-General Ban This is perfect weather for us foreign dignitaries gave a stand- presidents since Bill Clinton Thursday at 95, as the unlikely Ki-moon waved and bowed to on this occasion.” and Fidel shook hands at the leader of a movement that gave ing ovation. spectators as he called Mandela People blew on vuvuzelas, U.N. in 2000. Obama pointed out that “potent voice to the claims of “one of our greatest teachers.” the plastic horn that was widely Other attending leaders “around the world today, men the oppressed and the moral “He taught by example. He used during the 2010 World Cup and women are still imprisoned criticized for their human rights sacrificed so much … for freenecessity of racial justice. “ soccer tournament in South for their political beliefs, and are records were Zimbabwe’s Rob“Born during World War I, dom and equality, for democAfrica, and sang songs from the ert Mugabe, Equatorial Guinea’s racy and justice,” Ban said. far from the corridors of power, still persecuted for what they era of the anti-apartheid strugTeodoro Obiang Nguema and look like, or how they worship, a boy raised herding cattle and Mandela’s widow, Graça gle decades earlier. Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh. or who they love.” tutored by the elders of his Machel, and his former wife, “It is a moment of sadness In contrast to the wild Among the heads of state Thembu tribe, Madiba would Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, celebrated by song and dance, applause given to Obama, South gave each other a long hug were some from countries emerge as the last great liberawhich is what we South AfriAfrican President Jacob Zuma tor of the 20th century,” Obama like Cuba that don’t hold fully before the ceremonies began. cans do,” said Xolisa Madywabe, was booed. Many South Afrisaid, referring to Mandela by his democratic elections. On the Actress Charlize Theron, CEO of a South African investcans are unhappy with Zuma way to the podium, Obama clan name. model Naomi Campbell and ment firm. shook hands with Cuban Presi- because of state corruption Obama, who like Mandela singer Bono were among the Mandela’s body will lie in dent Raul Castro, underscoring scandals, though his ruling Afri- celebrities paying final tribute. became the first black presistate for three days in Pretoria, can National Congress, once dent of his country, said he was a recent warming of relations Symbolically, Tuesday was once the seat of white power, led by Mandela, remains the between their countries. inspired by Mandela as a stuthe 20th anniversary of the before burial Sunday in his Obama and Castro’s encoun- front-runner ahead of elections day when Mandela and South rural childhood village of Qunu. dent. The speech was greeted
GM makes Kerry, Congress clash over nuclear deal with Iran historic CEO pick By Bradley Klapper The Associated Press
By Dee-ann Durbin and Tom Krisher The Associated Press
DETROIT — Mary Barra has spent the past three years as General Motors’ product chief, making cars that drive better, last longer and look good in showrooms. Now she will take on an even bigger job. On Tuesday, the board named the 33-year company veteran CEO, making her the first woman to lead a U.S. car company. Barra replaces Dan Akerson, who moved up retirement plans by several months to help his wife, Karin, battle advanced cancer. Akerson hinted at Barra’s promotion earlier this year when he told a women’s business group in Detroit that a “car gal” would someday run one of the Detroit Three automakers. But he made it clear Tuesday that she wasn’t picked because she’s a woman. “Mary’s one of the most gifted executives I’ve met in my career,” he said. When Barra starts her new job Jan. 15, she will lead a company that’s made nearly $20 billion since emerging from bankruptcy in 2010, much of it from the cars and trucks she helped develop. But she still faces challenges of paring down GM’s costs and winning over buyers in international markets such as India and South America. Akerson said the board unanimously picked Barra from several internal candidates because of the breadth of her experience, her management record, her people skills and her understanding of GM’s operations. “This is an executive who has a vision of where she wants to take the organization,” he said. Since February 2011, Barra has held what many say is the most important job at GM — senior vice president for global product development. She joined the company in 1980 as an engineering student and became a plant manager, executive director of engineering and head of human resources.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and Congress clashed Tuesday over the historic nuclear deal with Iran, exposing deep rifts over a U.S. pledge to refrain from any new sanctions over the next six months in exchange for concessions on enriching uranium. The disagreement could have broad consequences for the U.S. diplomatic effort to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. In his first congressional testimony since last month’s Geneva agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry defended the diplomacy as having halted and rolled back central elements of Iran’s nuclear program for the first time. He pleaded with Democrats and Republicans alike not to scuttle the chances of a peaceful resolution to a crisis that has regularly featured U.S. and Israeli threats of potential military action. “Let me be very clear: This is a very delicate moment and we have a chance to address peacefully one of the most
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pressing national security concerns that the world faces today,” Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We’re at a crossroads. We’re at one of those really hinge points in history. One path could lead to an enduring resolution in the international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. The other path could lead to continued hostility and potentially to conflict.” Kerry’s appearance came as lawmakers increasingly threatened to undermine the six-month interim pact, which gives Iran $7 billion in sanctions relief over the next half-year in exchange for the Islamic republic’s neutralizing its higher-enriched uranium stockpiles, not adding any new centrifuges and ceasing work at a heavy water reactor that potentially could produce plutonium used in nuclear weapons. Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., are close to completing a bill that would require the administration to certify every 30 days Iran’s adherence to the interim pact, according to legislative aides. Without that certification, the legisla-
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tion would re-impose all sanctions and introduce new restrictions on Iran’s engineering, mining and construction industries. The legislation also calls for a global boycott of Iranian oil by 2015 if Iran fails to live up to the interim agreement. Foreign companies and banks violating the bans would be barred from doing business in the United States. However, Iran sanctions were left off a defense bill working its way through the Senate this week — much to the dismay of Republicans. “This is a rather transparent attempt to prevent a vote on enhanced Iran sanctions, so they’re trying to circumvent the Senate, pass major legislation, essentially without amendments,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. In the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is drafting separate legislation mapping out how a final deal with Iran should look, aides say. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, warned any new commercial restrictions would kill the deal. “If Congress adopts sanctions, it shows
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lack of seriousness and lack of a desire to achieve a resolution on the part of the United States,” Zarif told Time. “My parliament can also adopt various legislation that can go into effect if negotiations fail. But if we start doing that, I don’t think that we will be getting anywhere.” Kerry said new sanctions could also be viewed as a sign of bad faith by America’s negotiating partners — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia. The United States is banking on them to enforce existing oil and financial restrictions on Tehran. “I don’t want to give the Iranians a public excuse to flout the agreement,” Kerry said. “It could lead our partners to think that we’re not an honest broker, and that we didn’t mean it when we said that sanctions were not an end in and of themselves but a tool to pressure the Iranians into a diplomatic solution.” Kerry’s assessment comes three days after President Barack Obama began to play down chances for success, telling a think-tank forum that he believed the odds of a comprehensive nuclear agreement next year are 50-50.
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