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SOUTH AFRICA: More than 50 heads of state will attend the funeral of Mandela

 

They will pay tribute to the memory of the South African icon. Fifty-three Heads of State or Government, including Barack Obama, Hollande, confirmed Sunday, December 8 their presence in South Africa for the funeral of Nelson Mandela announced Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa.

Among the guests will also find the Brazilian Dilma Rousseff, British Prime Minister David Cameron, but Nicolas Sarkozy - invited by the French president - and former presidents U.S. George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will also attend.

Other figures such as Prince Charles, former Secretary General Kofi Annan, the musician Peter Gabriel, entrepreneur Richard Branson also will travel.

The Dalai Lama, however, who was twice refused a visa for South Africa in recent years, said he would not attend these events .

Some of these guests will speak during an official memorial ceremony, Tuesday, Dec. 10 at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, from 11:00 (09:00 GMT), has de ; clared Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, recalling that the body of the first black president of South Africa will not be exposed in the stadium. 

Other personalities will visit later in Qunu, the village of his childhood in the south of the country for his funeral scheduled for Sunday 15th December.

A week of national mourning began Sunday in South Africa. Around the country, South Africans have gathered in the streets, churches, synagogues, mosques, to salute the memory of the "Father of the nation arc rainbow ".

With AFP