TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Obama in South Africa for Mandela memorial service
President Barack Obama opened a day of remembrance and celebration Tuesday for his personal hero Nelson Mandela, arriving in South Africa for a memorial service honoring the anti-apartheid icon who died last week at age 95
Change Size
P
resident Barack Obama opened a day of remembrance and celebration Tuesday for his personal hero Nelson Mandela, arriving in South Africa for a memorial service honoring the anti-apartheid icon who died last week at age 95.
Air Force One touched down at a military base near Johannesburg on a rainy morning. Joining Obama on the 16-hour trip from Washington was first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were also scheduled to attend the memorial service, but traveled to South Africa separately.
The Obamas, the Bushes and Mrs. Clinton departed the front steps of the presidential plane together, a rare grouping of a current, former and possibly future president.
Obama will be among the speakers at Tuesday's memorial, joining tens of thousands of South Africans and dozens of dignitaries at the outdoor stadium in Johannesburg. A singing, joyous crowd was filling the stadium early Tuesday morning despite the rainy conditions.
White House aides said Obama began crafting his 20-minute remarks for the memorial after Mandela's passing last week. The president was expected to discuss Mandela's impact on his own life, as well as his transformation from prisoner to president.
"He obviously is cemented in our memory as an icon, but he was an extraordinary political leader, an extraordinary leader of a movement to bring about change," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.
Obama's own political rise has drawn comparisons to Mandela. Each has the distinction of being his nation's first black president and each was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But people close to Obama say the U.S. president is well aware that his own experience pales in comparison to Mandela's 27 years in prison fighting against a repressive government that brutally enforced laws that enshrined racial discrimination.
