ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has slammed American president Barack Obama over the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It was wrong for Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago (2009), to have attempted to resolve his country’s problems with terrorism in this way, Malema told the National Press Club in Pretoria on Thursday.
Bin Laden should rather have been captured and subjected to a trial to “rot in jail”, so that he could serve as an example to would-be terrorists, Malema said.
Malema’s stance was markedly stronger than the ANC’s cautious response to Bin Laden’s extra-judicial killing on Monday. Malema said although terrorism should be condemned, killing people was not right either.
“International political differences should be resolved peacefully,” he said. “I have a problem with America. They are untouchable. They kill people like they killed this chap. We don’t agree.”
Malema said Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was executed by the Americans because his country was said to have had weapons of mass destruction, but there was never any proof that the weapons existed in the first place. “If that had happened here in Africa, the case would have been in the international criminal court. We are not scared of the Americans. I’m not a friend of the imperialists,” Malema said. - The Star
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