TRANSCRIPT: QUESTION: "CHIEF LUTHULI COULD YOU GIVE US A FEW OF POINTS YOU WILL BE MAKING IN YOUR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH OF THIS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?"



ANSWER: "WELL, YOU ARE POSING POSSIBLY A LITTLE TOO MUCH AT THIS STAGE, BUT I CERTAINLY WILL SAY THIS, THAT I WILL BE VERY HAPPY TO BE THE RECIPIENT OF THE NOBEL PEACE AWARD. IT MAKES ONE FEEL HUMBLE, OF COURSE, AND TO BE AWARE OF THE ADDED RESPONSIBILITY IT MEANT, BUT I TOOK THE AWARD AS AN ENDORSEMENT OF OUR OLD STRUGGLE FOR AFRICA AND THE MANY WAYS WE HAVE TRIED TO CARRY OUT THAT STRUGGLE UNDER VERY DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES IN OUR COUNTRY. AND THE AWARD IS A GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT TO ALL OF US, FOR I MUST SAY I REGARDED THE AWARD AS NOT JUST TO ALBERT LUTHULI BUT TO SOUTH AFRICA. PARTICULARLY TO THE CERTAIN PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA BUT NOT ONLY THAT BUT TO THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA".



QUESTION: "WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION OF THE WAY YOUR PEACE PRIZE WAS RECEIVED BY THE WHITE POPULATION OF SOUTH AFRICA".



ANSWER: "I MUST SAY THAT I WAS VERY MUCH IMPRESSED BY THE REACTION OF MY PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA. WHEN I SAY 'MY PEOPLE;, I MEAN BOTH BLACK AND WHITE".



QUESTION: "YOU DON'T DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE TWO?"



ANSWER: "I DON'T. WE ARE ALL SOUTH AFRICAN, AND I HAD MESSAGES OF CONGRATULATION FROM ALL SECTIONS - WHITE, THE AFRICANS AND THE INDIANS, FROM ALL SECTIONS OF THE COMMUNITY. THAT WAS ONE ENCOURAGING FEATURE".




Initials JRG/V/WS/FG



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: ALBERT LUTHULI, ON HIS WAY TO OSLO, NORWAY, TO ACCEPT HIS 1960 NOBEL PRIZE, ARRIVED IN LONDON WITH HIS WIFE FROM JOHANNESBURG, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, NOVEMBER 6.

GARLANDS OF FLOWERS WERE THROWN AROUND EX-CHIEF LUTHULI'S NECK AS HE WAS GREETED BY PHILIP NOEL-BAKER, BRITISH HOLDER OF THE PEACE PRIZE.

THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE BANNED AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS IN SOUTH AFRICA WAS FORBIDDEN TO SPEAK WITH REPORTERS AT JOHANNESBURG AIRPORT AND HIS PASSPORT IS RESTRICTED TO TEN DAYS ABROAD. BUT AT LONDON AIRPORT HE HAD THIS TO SAY IN A SOF INTERVIEW: