World Mourns Nelson Mandela

“South Africans have gathered in Johannesburg and Soweto to mourn their former leader, Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday aged 95,” the BBC reports.

“Mandela spent 27 years in jail before becoming South Africa’s first black president in 1994. His administration replaced the racist white-minority regime that had enforced segregation of black and white people in a policy known as apartheid.”

New York Times: “As flags flew at half-staff across South Africa, a sense of loss, blended with memories of inspiration, spread around the world from President Obama in Washington to members of Britain’s royal family and on to those who saw Mr. Mandela as an exemplar of a broader struggle.”

Washington Post: “To a country torn apart by racial divisions, Mr. Mandela became its most potent symbol of national unity, using the power of forgiveness and reconciliation to heal deep-rooted wounds and usher in an era of peace after decades of conflict between blacks and whites… And to a world roiled by war, poverty and oppression, Mr. Mandela became its conscience, fighting to overcome some of its most vexing problems.”