OSLO GIVES MANDELA CHEERS OF HOME
Author: Associated Press
Date: Thursday, December 9, 1993
Page: 20
Section: NATIONAL/FOREIGN
OSLO -- A thousand Norwegians welcomed Nelson Mandela to Oslo yesterday,
packing a cathedral to clap and sing African songs in celebration of his Nobel
Peace Prize.
"You would think you were in the middle of Soweto," Mandela said from the
carved, gilded pulpit of the Oslo Cathedral.
"Now we have powerful friends. We are welcome wherever we go, but we cannot
forget our special friends here, who were there when hard times were knocking
at our door," said Mandela, who has visited Norway three times since his
release from prison in 1990.
The crowd responded with songs of freedom and songs about Mandela. The
choir and a few spectators joined Mandela in raising their fists when they
sang the ANC anthem, "God Bless Africa."
They were still singing and clapping in unison after the 75-year-old ANC
leader sped away from the church in a limousine to meet with businessmen.
Norway was among the first nations to impose sanctions against apartheid
and support Mandela's African National Congress.
Mandela arrived in Norway on Tuesday to start celebrations of the $790,000
Nobel Peace Prize that he will accept with the president of South Africa, F.
W. de Klerk, at Oslo City Hall tomorrow.
The other five Nobel Prizes, in sciences, literature and economics, are to
be awarded in Stockholm the same day.
The congregation was silent when Mandela entered the church for the one-
hour ecumenical service. But when he climbed the pulpit to begin his speech,
the usually quiet Norwegians rose to their feet and clapped in unison, an
accolade they reserve for the most honored guests.
"At a time when no other country was prepared to help the ANC, the
government and the people of Norway were the first to give us the material
support to be able to conduct our struggle," Mandela said.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has twice before given the coveted peace
prize to South Africans.
In 1960, the prize was awarded to Albert Luthuli, then president of the
ANC. In 1984, the prize went to Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, then the Anglican
bishop of Johannesburg.
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