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For immediate release                      Contact: James Muhammad 
     December 3, 1997                                    (773) 602-1230

Minister Farrakhan, delegation leave for 50-nation Friendship Tour

Press Release

WASHINGTON-Black America's most controversial and popular Muslim was given a warm "Bon Voyage" send-off here at a rally and press conference, where some 3,000 Muslims, Christians, Black nationalists and leaders of organizations came to wish the beloved leader well before he embarked on a 50-nation World Friendship Tour.

At Union Temple Baptist Church, Min. Farrakhan discussed his third World Friendship Tour. It is time for Blacks in America to get involved in "international affairs" to lead a world gone off course back to peace, he said on Nov. 30.

Most of the Minister's 90-minute lecture detailed his hopes that the tour would help bring peace to a world engulfed in conflict and yield trade, cultural and intellectual relationships for the Black community.

Min. Farrakhan shared plans to visit Israel, where a peace deal brokered by the United States, Egypt and Jordan three years ago has nearly dissolved and violence between Palestinians and Jews has escalated.

"That area is so critical to world peace that if war breaks out there it may bring the whole earth into the war which is called Armageddon," the Minister warned.

Other tours stops include Iran (for an Islamic Conference), Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel, Palestine, China, Malaysia, Singapore, 20 countries in Africa, Libya, North Korea, South Korea the former Soviet Union and nations in the South Pacific, the Caribbean and South America.

"I would like to demonstrate how diplomacy and friendly relations should be carried out," Min. Farrakhan said, explaining how the U.S. and other world governments have strayed from the path to peace.

The Minister also pointed out the double standard employed by the U.S. in dealing with Arab governments as opposed to European governments.

"I don't know who's advising the president, but he needs better advice. I'm not lobbying for the job," the Min. Farrakhan said. "But you know sometimes God raises from the abject someone to give the powerful and the great wise guidance. It seems to me that ... America needs overhauling."

The press conference/rally was the spark that ignited a flurry of media events for the fast-moving Muslim leader, whose grueling schedule over the last two years has included two legs of his World Friendship Tours--one to Africa and the Middle East, the other to the Caribbean.

Earlier that day he appeared on CNN's Evans and Novak news program where he was introduced as the "most influential and most criticized Black leader" in America. The Minister discussed his desire to bring peace among Muslims in the Middle East, destroy the idea of terrorism against innocent life and to see Israel halt construction of settlements in the Occupied Territories.

Every time America misuses her tremendous power, she loses influence among Muslims and her allies, Min. Farrakhan said. And concerning America's demand for trial in the United States or Britain instead of a neutral country of the Libyans accused of the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, Min. Farrakhan said: "America uses her influence to impose sanctions ... over an incident they haven't proved is entirely correct. We ought to go to trial somewhere to find where the truth lies."

On Sunday morning, Nov. 30, the Muslim leader was questioned on Fox television's Tony Snow Show. Min. Farrakhan said he hopes President Clinton and his advisers will see the failure of policies toward President Saddam Hussein and immediately end the sanctions on Iraq.

"Let's sit down and talk to Saddam Hussein, leader-to-leader, human being to human being. And I do believe he wants a better relationship with America, and I hope when I go to Iraq that I will be able to report to the American people that here is a man that is ready to sit down talk with the American administration and come to terms with the disagreements with America," he said.

The following day, Min. Farrakhan dispatched Nation of Islam attorneys Min. Ava Muhammad and Min. Arif Muhammad to the State Department for a briefing with Secretary of State Madeline Albright in response to a suggestion by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, that the State Department brief Min. Farrakhan. Min. Benjamin Muhammad and Min. Kevin Muhammad in New York were dispatched to the United Nations to seek a meeting with Ambassador Richardson.

The delegation to the UN arranged a Dec. 1 briefing at the State Department hours before Min. Farrakhan's actual departure. In the meeting, State Department officials conceded Min. Farrakhan's World Friendship Tour was legal. State Department officials also admitted that the trip did not conform to U.S. efforts to isolate and discredit Iraq, Libya, Cuba and some other nations on the tour itinerary.

At the rally/press conference at Union Temple church, representatives of various groups and organizations attending the celebration hailed Min. Farrakhan's Tour.

"It is important for us to send Minister Farrakhan off on this very important mission," added Maryland state legislator Clarence Mitchell, who hoped the trip would solidify economic linkages for Black America with Africa and China.

"Baltimore has the largest open-water port on the East Coast. We can make use of that with linkages with African and Asian nations, but we're not doing that right now. I'm hoping that Min. Farrakhan can build that bridge," State Sen. Mitchell said.

During his tour, Min. Farrakhan plans to answer an invitation extended by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Sheik Mohammed Al-Jamal Ar-Rifai, the Resident Imam at Al-Asqa Mosque in Jerusalem. The Minister was invited to visit and pray at the mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam.

The Palestinian sheik predicted "one million of the faithful," will greet him at the mosque, Min. Farrakhan said. While in Israel, the Minister would like to meet with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.

But, Min. Farrakhan, stressed the role of peacemaker is not his alone. "God is raising you (Black Americans) up to play an important role in world affairs," he said.

"You are chosen of God really to bring about complete change in this country. You are the soul of it. You have soul to give America a sense of balance now that she's imbalanced by her own power, wealth and corruption. God is raising you up, you are no longer the old plantation boy or girl that you were, " he said.