The New Nation - Internet Edition

PTI, Washington

Nobel Peace Prize winner anti- apartheid icon Nelson Mandela still figures on the U.S. terrorist watchlist and needs special permission to visit America.

The requirement applies to Mandela and other members of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (A.N.C.), the once- banned anti-apartheid organisation.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has termed the situation "embarrassing," and some members of the Congress have vowed to fix it, the U.S.A. Today reported.

In the 1970s and '80s, the A.N.C. was officially designated a terrorist group by the country's ruling white minority. Other countries, including the U.S., followed suit.

Because of this, Rice told a Senate committee recently, her department has to issue waivers for A.N.C. members to travel to the U.S.A.

"This is a country with which we now have excellent relations, South Africa, but it's frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela," Rice said.

Chairman of the House International Relations Committee Howard Berman is pushing a bill that would remove current and former A.N.C. leaders from the watch lists. Supporters hope to get it passed before Mandela's 90th birthday on July 18.

"What an indignity," Berman said. "The ANC set an important example: It successfully made the change from armed struggle to peace. We should celebrate the transformation."

Mandela, the hero of movement against apartheid, a repressive regime that subjugated black South Africans, was imprisoned for 27 years before being freed in 1990. He was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994.

Republican Senator Judd Gregg called A.N.C. members' inclusion on watch lists a "bureaucratic snafu" and pledged to fix the problem.

Members of other groups deemed a terrorist threat, such as Hamas, also are on the watchlists.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said "common sense" suggests Mandela should be removed. He said the issue "raises a troubling and difficult debate about what groups are considered terrorists and which are not."

When A.N.C. members apply for visas to the U.S.A., they are flagged for questioning and need a waiver to be allowed in the country.

In 2002, former A.N.C. chairman Tokyo Sexwale was denied a visa. In 2007, Barbara Masekela, South Africa's ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006, was denied a visa to visit her ailing cousin and didn't get a waiver until after the cousin had died, Berman's legislation said.