<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size=2> <DIV class=head1>Bush delivers unprecedented snub to Mandela in Africa visit</DIV> <DIV class=head1><FONT color=#008000></FONT> </DIV> <DIV class=head3>By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent</DIV> <DIV class=padnone>01 July 2003 </DIV> <DIV class=padnone> </DIV> <DIV class=padnone><A href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=420582"><FONT color=#000000>http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=420582</FONT></A></DIV> <DIV class=padnone> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>President George Bush will make history next week when he becomes the first head of state not to ask for a meeting with Nelson Mandela while on a visit to South Africa.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Officials say there is no precedent, except during large summits such as the UN earth summit in Johannesburg last year when heads of state visited in huge numbers. But even then, world leaders lined up to visit Mr Mandela at his upmarket residence in Johannesburg, and others met him at official events.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But when Mr Bush lands in South Africa next week on his first visit to Africa, the world's most powerful leader will not meet the world's most famous statesman. Mr Bush had not asked for a meeting with Mr Mandela, the former president's spokeswoman said.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>more:</DIV> <DIV><A href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=420582"><FONT color=#000000>http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=420582</FONT></A></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>