Clinton Honors S. Africa Ex-Foes at Liberty Bell

Sharing America’s birthday with South African President Frederik W. de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, President Clinton on Sunday vowed to be a full partner in South Africa’s “journey to non-racial democracy.”

Clinton presented the two former bitter foes with the Liberty Medal, a $100,000 prize awarded annually to those who foster democracy and human rights.

Before the ceremony, the three posed for photographs in Independence Hall, across from the room where the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

Clinton and two youngsters gently rapped their knuckles 13 times against the Liberty Bell in a ceremonial ringing of the historic landmark.

“This is where the President should be on the Fourth of July, especially with Nelson Mandela and President de Klerk,” Clinton said after the ringing of the bell. “I just think this is a celebration of freedom, not only here but around the world.”

Then presenting the awards under a blistering sun, Clinton said “the United States stands ready to help the people of South Africa as they move forward” in the difficult process of national reconciliation and economic reconstruction.

He said the holiday celebrates “the idea that each of us stands equal before God and therefore must be equal before the law. The idea that our human dignity is given to us not by any government, but by God. The idea that we must be citizens, not subjects.”

Looking at the South African leaders, he said: “My fellow Americans, on this Fourth of July, look at these two men who are making history. Cynicism is a luxury the American people cannot afford.”

Clinton said he will urge the leaders of the other industrial democracies to consider lifting economic sanctions against the racially divided nation when the movement toward democracy proves irreversible.

A senior White House aide said Clinton was referring to the unfreezing of World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans for South Africa “at the appropriate point in the future.”

In his remarks to the Philadelphia crowd, Mandela noted that slavery persisted in the United States long after the nation was born in Independence Hall on July 4, 1776, and he deplored the “drug abuse, violence and homeless despair” that plague blacks today.

Turning to Clinton, Mandela, the man who spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South African jails, pleaded for continued pressure on that nation’s white power structure until full civil rights for the black majority are won.

De Klerk, who was met by a scattering of boos from the crowd of several thousand people, said that South Africans are “binding up our wounds. A new nation is being born.”

He noted that 11 years passed between the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Constitution and urged the American people to show patience for South Africa’s struggle.

“We are trying to break out of the cycle of conflict and join hands in a quest for peace and democracy,” he said.

De Klerk, Mandela and other South African leaders are nearing the final stages of drawn-out negotiations to end 350 years of white domination.

De Klerk’s sharing of the $100,000 award has stirred controversy among some American supporters of the South African anti-apartheid movement, who demonstrated by banging drums during the award ceremony.

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