Rest In Peace
Mr. Nelson Mandela
(1918-2013)
Announcing the news on South Africa National TV, the President Jacob Zuma said that Mr. Mandela was at peace.
"Our nation has lost its greatest son," Mr Zuma said.
"Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss."
Mr Zuma said he would receive a full state funeral, and flags would be flown at half-mast.
Crowds gathered outside the house where Mr Mandela died, people flying South African flags and some wearing the shirts of the governing African National Congress, which Mr Mandela once led.
He was admitted to hospital in Pretoria on June to be treated for recurrence of lung infection and been receiving the intensive medical care at home after spending three months in the hospital.
Mr Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, who was imprisoned and then become politician served as the first black South African to be the President of South Africa (1994-1999). He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US President Medal of Freedom in deep respect within South Africa as the "Father of the Nation".
He was arrested for the sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, serving most of his sentences on Robben island. He was then been released in 1990 as South Africa began to move away from the racial segregation, which a process completed by first multi-racial election in 1994.
US President, Barack Obama said Mr. Mandela has achieved more than what could be expected of any man.
"He no longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages" he said,adding that Mr. Mandela "took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice".
Mr. Obama said he was one of the millions who drew inspiration from Mr. Mandela's life. He has ordered that the White House flag be flown at half-mast.
*pictures from web
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| The UN Security Council in New York stood for a minute of silence |
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| Many of those gathered outside the former leader's home were reduced to tears at the news |
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| In London mourners placed flowers outside the African High Commission - among them the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lungi Morrison |
Some quotes by Mr. Mandela:
- ❤ It always seems impossible until its done.
- ❤ Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again
- ❤ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- ❤ A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
- ❤ If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
- ❤ If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
- ❤ We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
- ❤ Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.
- ❤ We can't afford to be killing one another.
- ❤ No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.
- ❤ Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.
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