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Al-Ahed Telegram

Mandela Memorial Service: Leaders from across the Globe Attend

Mandela Memorial Service: Leaders from across the Globe Attend
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Local Editor

Tens of thousands of South Africans, dozens of presidents and prime ministers, celebrities and street sweepers all headed to the same place: a stadium in Johannesburg to honor Nelson Mandela at a memorial service on Tuesday.

Despite the rain, crowds clapped, sang and danced as they began arriving at the FNB stadium. Many waved banners honoring the revered statesman or carried his picture.

 

Mandela Memorial Service: Leaders from across the Globe Attend

 

Dignitaries from around the world arrived in the city to pay tribute. With 91 heads of state attending, security was tight.

Authorities have been stepping up surveillance as presidents of six nations prepare to pay tribute to the late anti-apartheid leader in a four-hour service that will likely bring much of South Africa to a stop.

At that event, metal detectors and some 15,000 members of security forces stood watch over the event.

Security was also stepped up outside Mandela's home, where crowds showed up with umbrellas to show their appreciation of a man they said represented unity. Some even said they missed work for the occasion.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, India's President Pranab Mukherjee, US President Barack Obama, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Cuban President Raul Castro as well as Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe are among those attending the Tuesday memorial

 

Mandela Memorial Service: Leaders from across the Globe Attend

 

Three former US presidents, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, will also be present.

The stadium, where Mandela delivered his first major speech after his release from prison, can hold some 90,000 people, but that won't be enough to hold the hundreds of thousands clamoring to celebrate Mandela's life.

With private vehicles banned from the area around the stadium, the government pressed buses from around the country into service and stepped up train service to move the crowds.

In addition to Obama and Ban, the presidents of Brazil, Namibia, India, Cuba and South Africa are expected to speak at the service, as are family members, friends and others.

Mandela led South Africa's transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s after nearly three decades in prison and was one of the towering political figures of the 20th century.

He served as president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election.

Source: Websites, edited by website team

 

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