The former South African president, Mr Nelson Mandela, urged Ireland to be courageous in world affairs and defend the principles of the United Nations, when an honorary degree was conferred upon him at NUI Galway yesterday.
He called for all sides to keep faith with the peace process in Northern Ireland, again drawing an analogy with the long road to accord in South Africa.
Mr Mandela condemned the recent unilateral action against Iraq by a "people without a vision, without a depth of thinking". Although not naming the US specifically, Mr Mandela said that any country which went to war outside the remit of the UN represented a "danger to the world".
Ireland should have the courage to "stand up for multi-lateralism", he said. "If you don't stand up and condemn what is wrong, organisations like the UN are going to be irrelevant."
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was greeted with rapturous applause throughout the conferring, which was attended by his compatriot and architect of the South African constitution, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa.
The former SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, and the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, were among the 1,200 invited guests.
"We have not heard any reasonable voice in the world defending Saddam Hussein and his regime. The chorus of protest against the war in Iraq was directed towards the unilateral action taken and the disregard for the organs of multilateral governance, particularly the United Nations," he said.