Friday arrived in South Africa for a three-day visit, Obama hailed Saturday, June 29 the "moral courage" to Nelson Mandela. U.S. President should not go to the bedside of the latter was hospitalized in critical condition. It has however met Saturday in private family icon of the struggle against apartheid, 94 years old.
At a joint press conference with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma, the U.S. President said that the first black president of South Africa, was "a source of personal inspiration (...) and a source inspiration for the world. " "The triumph of Nelson Mandela and the nation speaks to something deep in the human mind," said Barack Obama.
INTERVIEW WITH THE FAMILY
"I reaffirm the profound impact of his legacy in the construction of a free South Africa (...) It is a legacy that we all meet in our own lives," Obama said then, to After a quick visit to the family. The U.S. president met two girls and eight of the 17 grandchildren of the global icon of freedom and reconciliation in the premises of his foundation in Johannesburg. "I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort in the presence of his family, I also expressed my support wholeheartedly the whole family through this difficult time," said the U.S. president.
He also spoke by telephone with Graça Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela, who spent long hours at the hospital in Pretoria where he was treated for three weeks. "By taking the time to call me to express their solidarity and meet our children, they added a touch of personal warmth characteristic of the Obama family," said Ms. Machel answer, who claims to have sent to her husband's wishes the couple Obama.
STATE "CRITICAL BUT STABLE"
Attentive to each indication on the health of Mandela since his hospitalization on June 8 for pneumonia, South Africa was prepared for the worst Thursday after canceling a trip to Jacob Zuma in Mozambique. But his health seems to have improved slightly since.
"There is (in a state) critical but stable, so nothing has changed," Zuma said on Saturday: "We hope that it will improve They are excellent doctors who take care of him. . Hopefully it will be released soon from the hospital, "he said. Nelson Mandela is still able to open their eyes and responds to touch, according to one of his daughters.
Moreover, the last white president of South Africa, FW de Klerk, said it will cut short her holiday in Europe and will be in Cape Town Sunday due to the health of Mandela, with whom he shared the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993.
AFRICAN TOUR
Barack Obama would then go to the famous township of Soweto to address promising young Africans in this mecca of resistance to apartheid. Of incidents between the police anti-Obama protesters in Soweto before his arrival. Police fired stun grenades to disperse a group of 200 to 300 people who have particular chanted "Stop Obama, not us," or "policy of apartheid."
Sunday, Obama will travel to Cape Town, where he is scheduled to visit Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela spent eighteen of the twenty-seven years of detention where he likely contracted the lung injury caused his health problems repeatedly. Barack Obama will then be guided by the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu. It will deliver the keynote speech of his African tour from the University of Cape Town.
South Africa is the second leg of an African tour a week after Senegal, the U.S. president must lead in Tanzania.
At the press conference with Jacob Zuma, Obama also called on Zimbabwe to end the harassment of the opposition and adopt reforms to ensure that the next general elections are "free and credible."
After the death of three people in Egypt on the sidelines of rival demonstrations, he also urged Saturday opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to dialogue and avoid violence.
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