The C.I.A. and Nelson Mandela

For nearly 28 years the U.S. government has harbored an increasingly embarrassing secret: A CIA tip to South African intelligence agents led to the arrest that put black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela in prison for most of his adult life.

.

A former U.S. official has revealed that he has known of the CIA role since Mandela was seized by agents of the South African police special branch on Aug. 5, 1962.

.

The former official, now retired, said that within hours after Mandela`s arrest Paul Eckel, then a senior CIA operative, walked into his office and said approximately these words: “We have turned Mandela over to the South African security branch. We gave them every detail, what he would be wearing, the time of day, just where he would be. They have picked him up. It is one of our greatest coups.“

.

With Mandela out of prison, the retired official decided there is no longer a valid reason for secrecy. He called the American role in the affair.

.

“one of the most shameful, utterly horrid“ byproducts of the Cold War struggle between Moscow and Washington for influence in the Third World.

.

Asked about the tip to South African authorities, CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said: “Our policy is not to comment on such allegations.“

.

Reports that American intelligence tipped off the South African officials who arrested Mandela have circulated for years. Newsweek reported in February 1990 that the agency was believed to have been involved.

.

Mandela, widely regarded as the world`s pre-eminent political prisoner when he finally was released in February 1990.

.

But in 1962 the CIA`s covert branch saw the African National Congress as a threat to the stability of a friendly South African government. At the time, that government not only had just signed a military cooperation agreement with the United States but also served as an important source of uranium.

.

The CIA knew of Mandela`s whereabouts because it had put an undercover agent into the inner circle of the African National Congress group in Durban, according to Gerard Ludi, a retired South African intelligence official .

.

Mandela was being sought as a fugitive for his anti-apartheid activities. The morning after a secret dinner party with other congress members in Durban, Mandela, dressed as a chauffeur, ran into a roadblock. He was immediately recognized and arrested.

.

On August 5 of 1962 Mandela had been hiding from police for  17 months when his car was flagged down outside the town of Howick in Natal at a  roadblock. Only later did stories appear explaining why the police set up the  roadblock in that place. Three South African newspapers, and the London Press,  ran stories that claim a CIA officer Donald Rickard  who worked undercover as a  consular official in Durban had tipped off the South African Special Branch that  Mandela would be disguised as a chauffeur in a car headed for Durban. Rickard  obtained this information through an informant in the ANC.

.

Apparently, a year later, at a  party, he is reported to have said that he had been due to meet Mandela on that  night. However, Rickard later refused to discuss the issue when he was  approached by CBS. While Mandela went on to serve 28 years in prison where he  suffered tuberculosis from the damp cell he was in for years and other health  problems, Rickard retired comfortably in Pagosa Springs Colorado.  Still,   Mandela has managed to survive into his nineties as a revered figure while  Rickard is forgotten by most people.

.

We can no longer in good conscience trust the politicians to police themselves. Link to this article from forums and blogs. Mention it with links in your comments on blogs. PROMOTE IT.

.

PLEASE SHARE- RePost to Reddit, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, etc. (below)