World leaders, from US President Barack Obama to Cuba's Raul Castro, will pay homage to Nelson Mandela at a mass memorial in South Africa that will recall his gift for bringing enemies together across political and racial divides.
Obama and Castro, whose countries maintain an ideological enmity lasting more than 50 years, are among the designated orators at a Johannesburg football stadium where 23 years earlier Mandela - freshly freed from apartheid jail - was hailed by cheering supporters as the hope for a new South Africa.
Obama's Air Force One arrived at Waterkloof air force base near Pretoria on Tuesday morning after a 16-hour flight from Washington.
The US president and his wife Michelle were followed down the steps by former president George W Bush and his wife Laura. Two other former US presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, were arriving separately.
 |
| Follow our coverage of Mandela's death and legacy |
A light rain fell on Tuesday as thousands of mourners gathered at the stadium in Soweto, the Johannesburg township that was a stronghold of support for the anti-apartheid struggle that Mandela embodied.
Singing, joyous crowds are swelling in the stands despite the rain. Workers still were welding at a VIP area as the first spectators arrived.
Police have promised tight security, and are patrolling a wide perimeter around the stadium. Even so, the first crowds entered the stadium without being searched.
The fact that the visiting leaders - more than 90 are expected - include some from nations still locked in antagonism, such as Cuba and the US, adds piquancy and resonance to the homage being held at the gigantic bowl-shaped stadium, the venue of the 2010 World Cup final.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will both be there. Blair has called Mugabe a dictator who should have been removed from power.
Mugabe has called Blair an imperialist and once told him to "go to hell". Such antagonisms will be put on mute on Tuesday as the life of someone who put his faith in reconciliation into practice to successfully unite a multi-racial nation is remembered.
"What he did in life, that's what he's doing in death, he's bringing people together from all walks of life, from the different sides of opinion, political belief, religion," Zelda la Grange, Mandela's former personal assistant, told Reuters news agency.
Israel's top leaders will be conspicuous by their absence at the memorial, skipping the ceremony for the anti-apartheid hero whom Palestinians have always viewed as their comrade in the struggle for freedom.
Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor President Shimon Peres will attend the event, officials said on Monday, citing costs and health reasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment