By CHELSEA J. CARTER
.c The Associated Press
Smyrna, Ga.(AP) - President Clinton should have responded firmly when South African President Nelson Mandela suggested that the United States end economic embargoes against Cuba and Libya, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Saturday.
He observed that Mandela was freed after 18 years in prison and the apartheid system of white supremacy abolished in South Africa due in part to U.S. sanctions.
On Friday in Cape Town, Mandela called on the visiting president to "set an example to all of us'' and end its adversarial relationship with Fidel Castro's Cuba, Moammar Gadhafi's Libya and Iran. Clinton did not reply, but his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, said, "On those three things we disagree.''
Suggesting a stronger response was in order, Gingrich, R-Ga., told a gathering of 1,200 Republicans in this Atlanta suburb that there already is a U.S. law on ending the Cuba embargo.
"It says the day after there is an international supervised free election, even if Castro wins the election, we will end the embargo,'' he said.
"We love the Cuban people. We are friends of the Cuban people, but we are not going to allow a dictator to sit there and destroy the freedoms of the Cuban people and be told by somebody who is out of jail because the United States imposed its will, and the United States imposed an embargo and the United States insisted that he be free,'' Gingrich said in reference to Mandela.
He said as the embargo against Libya would continue as long as the North African country refuses to turn over two of its security agents accused of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
On another topic, Gingrich reiterated that he will seek re-election to his House seat and the speaker's post.
"I wanted to come here and put to rest the rumors,'' said Gingrich, referring to speculation he planned a presidential bid in 2000. "With your help, I will be a candidate for Congress this fall.''
His announcement was met by a standing ovation amid a wave of "Speaker Newt'' and "I Love Newt'' signs.
Gingrich's comments mirrored those in a letter he sent two weeks ago to the House GOP rank-and-file. That letter stopped short of a declaration of noncandidacy for the White House.
AP-NY-03-28-98 2151EST