South Africa's first black president and anti-
apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has died,
South Africa's president says.
Mr Mandela, 95, led South Africa's transition from
white-minority rule in the 1990s, after 27 years in
prison.
He had been receiving intense home-based medical
care for a lung infection after three months in
hospital.
In a statement on South African national TV, Mr
Zuma said Mr Mandela had "departed" and was at
peace.
"Our nation has lost its greatest son," Mr Zuma said.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was one of the world's
most revered statesmen after preaching reconciliation
despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
He had rarely been seen in public since officially
retiring in 2004.
"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what
made him human. We saw in him what we seek in
ourselves," Mr Zuma said.
"Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us
together and it is together that we will bid him
farewell."
Earlier, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge, outside Mr
Mandela's home in the Johannesburg suburb of
Houghton, said there appeared to have been an
unusually large family gathering.




Source:BBC