Nelson Mandela
© Reuters Præsident Nelson Mandela i august 1996
En tidligere CIA agent har endelig bekræftet, hvad verden længe har mistænkt: at det amerikanske efterretningsvæsen var bag arrestationen som satte Nelson Mandela i fængsel i 27 år.

To uger før den 88 Donald Rickard døde, uden af have fortrudt noget, tilstod CIA spionen til filmskaber John Irwin, at hans tip ledte til Mandelas arrestation ifølge en rapport i Sunday Times.

Rickart forsvarede arrestationen af Sydafrikas mest eftersøgte mand i 1962, som han sagde var nødvendig for at fange "verdens farligste kommunist uden for Sovjetunionen"


Kommentar: Delvist oversat af Sott.net fra CIA tip led to arrest of 'dangerous communist' Nelson Mandela, former US spy confesses
Læs også om det på dansk i en artikel i Berlingske, der inkluderer denne kommentar fra et nuværende medlem af ANC og nationale talsmand Zizi Kodowa: "Afsløringen bekræfter, hvad vi altid har vidst. At de arbejder imod os - også i dag. Det er ikke en konspiration, siger Kodwa ifølge BBC."
- "også i dag" og ikke bare i Sydafrika, men i mange, mange lande, for som der stå i manualen for ukonventionel krigsførelsen:
"'The intent of U.S. UW efforts is to exploit a hostile power's political, military, economic, and psychological vulnerabilities by developing and sustaining resistance forces to accomplish U.S. strategic objectives.'" Kilde: Headquarters, Department of the Army. (30. november 2010). Training Circular TC No. 18-01, Special Forces Unconventional Warfare, kapitel 1. side. 1.1. Washington DC.
"Hostile" betyder i det væsentlige, det der ikke fremmer USAs finansielle interesser. Hvad det handler om, forklares af John Perkins i dette interview, der opdaterer situationen, som den den ser ud i 2016. De igangværende TTIP forhandlinger er interessante i den sammenhæng. De foregår bag lukkede døre, hvor det kun er politiske og øknomiske kræfter, der har adgang, som Noam Chomsky bemærker i et interveiw offentliggjort på Channel 4s Facebook.


Rickard, who was officially working as US vice consul in the South African city of Durban at the time, said he learned Mandela was on his way to Natal, travelling between Johannesburg and Durban.

"I found out when he was coming down and how he was coming... that's where I was involved and that's where Mandela was caught," said Rickard, according to France24.

The former spy didn't explain how he received the information, but said he believed Mandela was "completely under the control of the Soviet Union, a toy of the communists" and about "to incite" the people of Natal into a mass rebellion against the apartheid regime.

Mandela
© ReutersAfrican National Congress ( ANC ) president Nelson Mandela stares out of the window of the prison cell he occupied on Robben Island for much of his 27 year incarceration
"Natal was a cauldron at the time," said Rickard, "and Mandela would have welcomed a war. If the Soviets had come in force, the United States would have had to get involved, and things could have gone to hell."

"We were teetering on the brink here and it had to be stopped, which meant Mandela had to be stopped. And I put a stop to it," he added.

The arrest led to Mandela spending almost 28 years in prison before becoming South Africa's first post-apartheid president in 1994, and one of the most revered human rights activists in history.

Filmmaker Irvin is recreating Mandela's final months leading up to the arrest in the biopic Mandela's Gun, and plans on previewing his production during this week's Cannes festival.


Transparency activist Ryan Shapiro in the US launched legal action against the FBI, CIA and the National Security Agency in 2014 over the agencies' failures to furnish US government documents from the period of Mandela's arrest through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

In March 2016, a District Court judge ruled against the CIA's attempts to have the legal action dismissed, saying the agency should honor Shapiro's FOIA request.