Friday December 06, 2013
Kaieteur News
Nelson Mandela has died JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela died peacefully at his Johannesburg home yesterday after a prolonged lung infection, President Jacob Zuma said. Mandela, the country’s first black president and antiapartheid icon, emerged from 27 years in apartheid prisons to help guide South Africa through bloodshed and turmoil to democracy. “Fellow South Africans, our beloved Nelson Rohlihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed,” Zuma said in a nationally televised address. “Our people have lost a father. Although we knew this day was going to come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His humility, passion and humanity, earned him their love,” he added. Mandela would receive a full state funeral, Zuma said, ordering flags to be flown at half mast. Mandela rose from rural obscurity to challenge the might of white minority apartheid government - a struggle that gave the 20th century one of its most respected and loved figures. He was among the first to advocate armed resistance to apartheid in 1960, but was quick to preach reconciliation and forgiveness when the country’s white minority began easing its grip on power 30 years later. Mandela was elected president in landmark all-race elections in 1994 and retired in 1999. He was awarded the Nobel
Nelson Mandela
Peace Prize in 1993, an honour he shared with F.W. de Klerk, the white Afrikaner leader who released from jail arguably the world’s most famous political prisoner. As president, Mandela faced the monumental task of forging a new nation from the deep racial injustices left over from the apartheid era, making reconciliation the theme of his time in office. The hallmark of Mandela’s mission was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which probed apartheid crimes on both sides of the struggle and tried to heal the country’s wounds. It also provided a model for other countries torn by civil strife. In 1999, Mandela handed over power to younger leaders better equipped to manage a modern economy a rare voluntary departure from power cited as an example to African leaders.
In retirement, he shifted his energies to battling South Africa’s AIDS crisis and the struggle became personal when he lost his only surviving son to the disease in 2005. Mandela’s last major appearance on the global stage came in 2010 when he attended the championship match of the soccer World Cup, where he received a thunderous ovation from the 90,000 at the stadium in Soweto, the neighbourhood in which he cut his teeth as a resistance leader. Charged with capital offences in the infamous 1963 Rivonia Trial, his statement from the dock was his political testimony. “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.
The UN Security Council was in session when the ambassadors received the news of Mandela’s death. They stopped their meeting and stood for a minute’s
silence. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon hailed Mandela as a “giant for justice” who had inspired freedom movements the world over. “Many around the world
were influenced by his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. He touched our lives in deeply personal ways,” Mr Ban told reporters.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Mandela’s name would always be associated with the fight against the oppression. “Not even years in prison could break Nelson
Mandela or make him bitter a new, better South Africa eventually emerged out of his message of reconciliation,” she said. “Nelson Mandela’s shining example and his
political legacy of nonviolence and the condemnation of all forms of racism will continue to inspire people around the world for many years to come.”
French president Francois Hollande said in a statement that: “Nelson Mandela made history. That
of South Africa and the whole world. Nelson Mandela’s message will not disappear. It will continue to inspire
fighters for freedom, and to give confidence to peoples in the defence of just causes and universal rights
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World pays tribute
His Excellency Donald Ramotar “ A giant in defence of human rights and for a free and just society” On behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Guyana and on my own behalf, I express sincere condolences on the passing of Former President Nelson Mandela. This loss is not just one for the people of South Africa, but for Africa as a whole, and the world at large. Nelson Mandela was a giant in defence of human rights and for a free and just society, not only for his beloved South Africans, but for the oppressed the world over. The world is much poorer after his passing for he was one of the most outstanding statesmen of all time. The struggle he led with other distinguished antiapartheid fighters has entered into the annals of world history as one of the most defining periods in our world. However, it was not only the
struggle, but the manner in which it was conducted which will always remain an example and an inspiration for others working for social and economic justice everywhere. He was truly the Father of his Nation, tirelessly devoting his life to serving the people of South Africa with humility and dignity in leadership, and an unwavering commitment to preserving that hard won unity and the pride of liberation. Highly loved and respected the world over, his memory will forever be cherished. For Guyana, this is particularly so, as we recall the strength of character which he continually displayed during those long, dark years of incarceration, a grave injustice. As we mourn now with South Africa, we rejoiced then, when he won his freedom and took his
rightful place as leader of his country. Mr Mandela’s name and work will endure throughout the ages. I have asked that the President of South Africa Jacob Zuma, convey our sympathy to his family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time.
Barack Obama : He ‘took history in his hands’ and wrought justice
Yahoo News - President Barack Obama paid somber tribute to Nelson Mandela yesterday, celebrating the late South African leader’s “fierce dignity and unbending will” and unquenchable thirst for justice. “For now, let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived — a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice,” Obama said in the White House briefing room. “He achieved more than could be expected of any man. Today he’s gone home, and we’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth,” Obama said. “He no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages. “His journey from a prisoner to a president embodied the promise that human beings — and countries — can change for
the better,” Obama said. The president also recalled the personal connection he felt to Mandela, and the antiapartheid campaign that fueled the young American’s political passions. “I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s life. My very first political action — the first thing I ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics — was a protest against apartheid. I
would study his words and his writings,” Obama said. “The day he was released from prison it gave me a sense of what human beings can do when they’re guided by their hopes and not by their fears. And like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set. And so long as I live, I will do what I can to learn from him.” In his 1995 autobiographical “Dreams From My Father,” Obama had described Mandela as something of an idealized father-figure — inspiring him and filling the void of his absent Kenya-born parent. “It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela,” he wrote. The two men met in 2005, when Mandela visited Washington, and Obama was a junior senator.
David Cameron says “not just a hero of our time, but a hero of all time.” UK Prime Minister David Cameron has paid tribute to the former South African President Nelson Mandela, who has died at the age of
95. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Mr Cameron said that “one of the brightest lights of our world has gone
out”. He described Mr Mandela as “not just a hero of our time, but a hero of all time.” (BBC)