Former South African President Nelson Mandela has made a strong plea this evening for a restoration of the role and the authority of the UN in the aftermath of the war in Iraq.
In a speech which stopped just short of openly criticising the US and its allies, Mr Mandela expressed his concern over 'the unilateral action taken in Iraq and the disregard for the will of the United Nations'.
The Nobel Prize winner and international human rights campaigner was in Galway to receive an honorary degree from the city's university.
He said that the war in Iraq had created a challenge to the UN to reassert its role and place in world governance.
