ANC President Oliver Tambo meets with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow

The African National Congress (ANC) leader, Oliver Tambo met Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)’s Central Committee. In his meeting with Gorbachev, Tambo was accompanied by Thabo Mbeki who would succeed Nelson Mandela’s successor as President of the ANC and of the Republic of South Africa.This meeting was the first ever between the Congress and the Soviet Union. It came three weeks after Gorbachev met with US President Ronald Regan. According to Gevisser (2007), the meeting ran for almost two hours though it was scheduled for 45 minutes.References:Gevisser, M., (2007). Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred. South Africa: Jonathan Ball Publishers, pp 484.O’Malley P., (2011) ‘Chronologies: 1986’from Nelson Mandela Foundation [online]. Available at www.nelsonmandela.org[Accessed: 17 October 2011]South African History Online, ‘4 November’, [online] Available at www.sahistory.org.za[Accessed: 17 October 2011]