Not exactly unmitigated grief over the death of Nelson Mandela

While the world mourns the loss of a man who undoubtedly did so much to obtain freedom and equality for his people, it ought to be remembered that his actions were not always as saintly as is now portrayed. The photo above shows him smiling and laughing with Martin McGuinness, a former commander of the IRA and Gerry Adams, former leader of Sinn Féin (the political wing of the IRA). Indeed there is considerable evidence that Adams was at one time a commander of the IRA himself though he denies it now (well he would wouldn't he?)
Mandela was once a commander of MK which was the armed faction of the ANC whose methods of political persuasion involved placing a petrol soaked tyre around the neck of a dissenter, man woman or child, and setting it ablaze. A method of torture even more barbaric than the IRA's favoured kneecapping.
Okay you may say that this photo was just the result of a photo op but it's still a very public display of the close alliance between the revolutionary movements in Ireland and South Africa.

Indeed Martin McGuinness is quoted in the Derry Journal, as recently as yesterday, as saying that 'Nelson Mandela was a true friend to Ireland'. It is a well known fact that the IRA helped carry out one of the biggest bomb attacks against the South African apartheid government - the bombing of the Sasol oil refinery in Sasolburg, near Johannesburg, on June 1st 1980. Nor is there any dout that Gerry Adams arranged for two of the IRA's military experts to meet some MK members in Dublin and take them for a period of military training at a safe location in the republic.

It would be naive to believe that there was no payback for the IRA as a reward for the assistance and it is a matter of record that the MK helped obtain AK47 weapons from the Palestinians which were then sold on to the IRA.

Also when the peace negotiations between the Government and the IRA led to the laughable IRA offer to put it's arms beyond use and allow independent observers to monitor its weapons dumps. Cyril Ramaphosa (a senior ANC member) was appointed, after being nominated by Gerry Adams, as one of the two observers to verify that the IRA arms dumps were sealed. It will be recalled that the IRA weapons turned out to have been so old that they were virtually useless in any case.

Now, while I'm not suggesting that Nelson Mandela himself took part in any 'ring of fire' activities nor that he personally gave aid to the IRA, it is a matter of record that he was a member of an organisation which did exactly both those things.